Movie Review: Big Night!

Big Night!, tells the story of a gay beautician named Dharna, played by Christian Bables, who is caught up in the war against drugs in the present-day Philippines. Mistakenly placed on the current drug users’ watchlist or “Oplan Tokhang,” Dharna struggles to go to great lengths in order to clear his name.

Big Night! shines on being creative of telling a common story of extrajudicial killing that was featured in past Filipino films for the last 5 years. It tackles social issues on how Filipinos or humans as general react to the current political situation and on how the government deals with anti drug programs. The subject matter is serious and relevant but they were able to execute the film with fun and entertaining content. Big Night! showcase the acting of Christian Bables which is a strong contender for Best Actor who plays gay again for this film but he's been able to give  a different approach and embodied and make his own character for Dharna. He delivers and makes you laugh on some of the scenes but you will feel the internal struggle that he has all throughout the journey in his film. Aside from EJK, the film touches some of the social issues in subtle manner like corruption, homosexuality, illegal medical practice, moral perspective and others. The film has a lot to say in every scene and it is up to the audience on how they interpret it. The film gives some notable performance from the cast especially Janice De Belen that shines with her sincere performance, John Arcilla with his riot performance with Nico Antonio that also improves a lot in this film and Soliman Cruz that has a pivotal role in the film. The film succeeds in ensemble acting and being faithful on the story that it would like to tell even if the main character goes to different places and encounters different people until he reaches his destination or rather his choice of ending for his journey. We can compare the structure of the film is like Ma'Rosa in but the Big Night! is the comedy counterpart, the intention is the same and the message is delivered clearly.  So if you want to see the mirrors of life in our current society and enjoy at the same time, Big Night is a good film to watch.

 

 

 

My Verdict: 4.5/5