"Nasaan Ka Man" stars Diether Ocampo, Jericho Rosales, and Claudine Barretto as three adopted children of two spinters, Gloria Diaz and Hilda Koronel. They were living a peaceful life in Baguio, on their own, until Joven (Jericho) and Pilar (Claudine) announced to the family that they are planning to get married. From then on, hidden feelings and kept secrets started to unfold that soon tear their family apart."Nasaan Ka Man" is truly an acting piece for its actors. It is character driven. Whatever unfolds in the story depends on how each character are molded. Everyone has its own distinct flavor that makes them different from the rest. Acting-wise, "sapawan" wouldn't be possible. Unless you didn't do your part well.
The adoptive mother. Lilia (Gloria Diaz) is considered to be the mother of the three children. The matriach of the household. Her dominance over the family (and the household) happens to come from their late father. Hers is a story of sadness and repression.
The adoptive mother's sister. Trining (Hilda Koronel) is slightly deaf that brings "some" (some are effective, some are not) of the comic-relief in the story. She's very passive to her older sister. Even though she's light-hearted, she carries a heavy burden. Hers is a story of pain and disillusionment.
The adopted children. Pilar is the adopted daughter who fell in love with her adopted brother, Joven. She has to weigh between her feelings for Joven and the approval of the rest of the family. She seemed to be soft-spoken at first but became aggressive when tragedy strikes. Joven comes from the street. He may have a traumatic childhood experience that made him reserved and silent as he grew older. Ito (Diether) is the oldest brother who has been designated to take care of his younger adopted siblings. He remained faithful to the wishes of their adoptive mother only to retaliate after Joven and Pilar's marriage announcement.
All actors gave excellent performances, except for one, Ms. Gloria Diaz. She wasn't at par with the rest of the actors. Hers was the heaviest character but she didn't deliver it well. She remained two-dimensional in the entire film. It seemed that the director, Cholo Laurel, rested on the fact that she already won an acting award so he didn't squeeze much on her anymore. He had forgotten that she won only for supporting actress (Rizal) and it wasn't that emotional even like this one. Despite that, direction was good. Cinematography was excellent. Despite its cool surroundings and colorful sceneries, it gives out a dark eerie feeling that goes along with its story. I especially love the the two-mirror scene shot with Claudine!
Story-wise, it could be better. Even the dialogues could use some re-working especially with the supposedly fun-scenes. I wish that more scenes were given to the sisters since the children's lives revolve around them. Aside from that, the parallelism amongst their lives were not given much substance when it is the important aspect of the film. Yes, there were loop holes but overall, it was good enough.
Before one would watch it, I want him to know that this movie isn't all-out drama. It also delves into the paranormal. So don't be shock or disappointed when the situation start to go on a different direction. Yes, it has been done before! Who cares? The important thing is, it wasn't a copycat neither was it exactly un-original. However, can we do away with "creepy" psychic characters when making thrillers? Psychics are not always creepy, right?
Verdict: Very Good!
Note: "Nasaan Ka Man" was shown on June 15. Now, barely almost a month, it is already out on videos! Star Cinema usually releases their movies on videos two months after its screen date. But with this one, I believe that it was a bit too early. It is even still showing in some theaters! I don't know Star Cinema's purpose in releasing it so soon but I do hope that it would do more good than bad. Imagine, I still wanted to see it on screen till I learned that the video was released this week!
Why "uncut", you may ask? I haven't seen the theatrical version so I wouldn't know. Probably, the bed scenes were the ones cut on the screen version.
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