Aside from its plethora of sex, blood and gore, visiting Italian director Phil Giordano’s “Pusoy” is a morality play.
Popoy’s (Vince Rillon) mom is terminally ill of kidney failure who needs an organ transplant the son can only provide as he moves heaven and earth to keep his family afloat no matter the unlawful source from being a henchman of a local gambling lord.
Popoy’s dilemma is to raise over P500,000 for the kidney transplant of his mother. There’s no other way he can produce the amount except toeing the line of Xandra (Janelle Tee) who is revolting against his boss lover Rodolfo (Baron Geisler) who has found a second fiddle paramour same feather gambling cheat Mika (Angeli Khang). Xandra believes she also owns the money she and Rodolfo have illegally earned from fraudulent card games and running a local gambling den.
Popoy, the vassal, gives in to Xandra’s design of siphoning off the crime moolah in broad nighttime from Rodolfo’s vault its code she has gazed and memorized from the very start they—the boss and the female right hand accomplice—share the loot her portion of it she finds out pittance so she willfully gets even in their sado-masochist bedroom stunts they both find pleasure in the sexual power play.
There goes the inside job which shatters Rodolfo’s sanity he goes on a rampage, initially with a violent pursuit of Xandra whom he mercilessly guns down after she is forced to divulge the possessor of the money.
On his way out to track down Popoy, though, Rodolfo gets shot to death by a rascal he has tortured, gun toted in the mouth and snatched girlfriend Mika from.
Meanwhile, Popoy gets away with murder although he is late in saving his mom’s life and just tears up in pain, in vain. The end doesn’t really go right with his means.
Is he guilty of running away with the bounty?
This is the moral question Giordano has posed not only generally to the characters themselves but the audience as well.
Does the end indeed justify the means? Or is it the other way around?
In all honesty, Popoy might be part of the web of corruption which he open-endedly must veer away from as he looks introspectively on the card- gamers gathered and cards sprawled on the tables in the funeral wake of his mother but the world is still unkind to him although his family loves and understands him so much which is his only consolation despite his untold criminal involvement.
“Pusoy” reeks with sex and violence to underline the grim and harsh realities of life.
Meanwhile, on the acting department, Geisler shows profundity to his evil side and yet human in his filial duty especially to teach tough lessons of sending to rehab center his only daughter who is hooked on drugs and treating gently or sometimes sternly albeit defensively his mindful wife about unfaithfulness discretion.
The other powerful performance is that of Vince who delivers the complexity of the battle between conscience and earthly needs.
What is surprising of all, anyway, is the command portrayal of newbie Janelle (erstwhile “Wowowin” promo and commercial gap girl) as Xandra who exudes versatility and chutzpah.
Tee is a rare find.
“Pusoy” which is currently streaming in Vivamax is cutting edge sex-action caper.