"Astig” is an episodic movie with four different stories of four men whose lives intertwine in the chaotic streets and poverty-stricken Manila. Director Guiseppe Bede “GB” Sampedro takes his audience to the life of an astig, the slang word for “tigasin’’ or toughie.

Ariel (Dennis Trillo) is a scheming diploma vendor along Recto Ave. whose gigolo-esque lifestyle turns violently bad, resulting to problems with his health and his freedom.

Boy (Edgar Allan Guzman) is a young father who is trying to make ends meet, even if it means doing something he resents.

Ronald (Arnold Reyes) is a promdi Chinese mestizo who arrives in Manila to sell a property while finding his true identity.

Baste (Sid Lucero) is the overprotective brother who struggles in his studies and his role as the man of the house.

TOUGH REALITY

The movie starts with a montage of the four main characters walking the streets of Manila, the setting of many movies, both mainstream and independent. Although it may be a tired location for films, Manila’s busy streets and poverty-stricken urban areas still play the perfect backdrop to the movie’s premise.

An episodic movie is not new to Filipinos as the industry has churned out numerous films adopting this technique, like the episodic horror flick series Regal Films has fed the Filipino moviegoer Not separated into segments, “Astig’’ thus shows seamless transition to create a whole fluid movie.
Although the movie earns good points in editing (it won Best Editing), the different stories it tried to patch together are old and tired concepts (e.g. the no-money-old-gay-guy-solution or the do-illegal-
things-for-money concepts).

The film also earns good points in the overall mood and treatment. The film’s almost monochromatic color sets the mood and the grim atmosphere. Not until the movie ends will you see the vivid colors of the city. However, there are scenes that are too dark, even pitch black in some instances. For instance, in the scene where Baste (Lucero) finds his sister dead on her bed, the intensity of the scene dies along with the lights.

STARS OVERPOWER THE ACTORS

Among the characters in the film only a few stood out. Trillo’s bad boy image helps him essay
the part. As his first foray into independent films, there’s a lot of promise to those handsome
looks and faded tattoos.

Lucero, who has been in the indie circuit for quite some time now, has once again proved his worth as an actor.

The other two main actors De Guzman and Reyes could’ve done better but like any other new actor, there is still promise somewhere.

Perhaps the biggest turnoff in this movie are the cameo roles of name stars, which gave little contribution to the film. The appearance of comedians like Ai-Ai delas Alas and Vhong Navarro brought laughs to a rather serious film. The dialogue-less cameos of Wowowee girl Mariel Rodriguez and host Boy Abunda (who produced the film) and other useless appearances turned the movie into a meaningless circus.

Overall, the movie depicted what an urban jungle warrior ought to do, strength and determination, to be an astig, to survive the hard life and the chaotic place that is the city.