TAKSIKAB: PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER REVIEW

Ironic backdrop

On the indie film scene, director Archie del Mundo makes an auspicious debut by way of the gripping adult drama, “Taksikab” (showing at Galleria’s IndieSine this week). Using the euphoric presidential inauguration of Noynoy Aquino as an ironic backdrop, the movie follows the roundelay narrative device utilized by David Hare’s “The Blue Room” and Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde” to expose the amoral decadence that results from the horrors of unrelenting poverty.

Well-acted and appropriately cast, the metaphor-rich movie follows the awkward romance between gay taxi driver, David (Kristoffer King) and his callboy-best friend, Bodji (Adrian Sebastian), who has decided to leave his hard life in the city behind for a fresh start in the province.

As their story unfolds, we are introduced to a slew of colorful characters, like an aging prostitute (Marife Necesito) who dotes on a young cigarette vendor cum pimp, Toto (Martin de los Santos)—who doesn’t know that his link to the helpful hooker and the distraught driver goes beyond friendship!

Jess Mendoza, Ray An Dulay, Tony Lapena, Kevin Vitug, Jonas Gruet, Marcus Cabrera and Dustin Jose join King and Necesito in this daisy chain of dramatic (and explicit) encounters that unsurprisingly ends in unspeakable tragedy.