`Tol Movie | Easter Eggs & Suprises

02.06.2019 – For those who rarely watch Filipino movies in the Philippines there are some rare gems out there that are hardly noticed. Due to the decline of Philippine cinema since the late 1990s, but that is slowly has been a constant change in the 2010s with the independent films starting to be more relevant than the mainstream produced movies. It is like the local komiks scene where new creators have taken the risk to bring out original material thanks in part to Komikon an annual event happening three times year. But that doesn’t equate to how the movie industry would have the same resurgence. `Tol is a buddy film which the word translates to a slang word for sibling as what you call your friend “bro” which is a play on words as a pun where the three main characters are employed at a “Toll Gate” in a fictional suburb of San Laan. The film is directed by Miko Livelo, if you see his name in the byline a couple of months back to 2018 he also was the man behind the lens for “I Love You to Death” one of his two mainstream films. `Tol is a movie about three close-knit friends (Arjo Atayde, Ketchup Eusebio, and Joross Gamboa) that faced the challenges of their friendship when one of their childhood crushes returns home named Elena (Jessy Mendiola). It’s one of the underrated Filipino films that was released last 30 January 2019 and had a red carpet premiere a few days earlier.

You can consider a film being below the radar that has enough stories to tell since Miko and Joel Ferrer wrote the screenplay, the same duo associated to their Punch Kick production. These two filmmakers are the young guns making good quality movies is making some noise in the local industry that is getting buried since the perspective of how the films have not evolved.

But these two directors are trying to change that perspective slowly but surely. With `Tol it just simply tells the story a definite slice of life that can relate to almost anyone. But what some hardly notice is about so many things happening behind the scenes. Sure, someone might point out that `Tol takes inspiration to previously known foreign films and what’s wrong with that?

Miko has grown up watching classic Filipino movies that had Tito, Vic, and Joey or those memorable satire films that Joey de Leon had made in the 1990s that inspired and got him into making these films. There’s a lot of Pinoy pop culture nostalgia that he incorporates in his unique style of film making. So it doesn’t count out that Jimmy Santos is also in this film too that he grew up watching as a kid. What makes this movie interesting won’t even be relevant to those, but for some who has loosely followed his films since ‘Blue Bustamante’ and his ‘Tanods’ Web Series has some surprising revelations.

SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN `TOL PHILIPPINE CINEMAS PLEASE DO AVOID SOME INTERESTING REVELATIONS ABOUT THE FILMS EASTER EGGS AND SURPRISES



San Laan is a Fictional Place

Yes, as mentioned previously San Laan is not a real place, but a suburb that plays a significant part of what happens between the characters appearing in `Tol where it is set. If you’ve watched the Marvel Studios’ Cinematic Universe or have been a fan of Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto” films chances are you’re looking at what could be an interesting tidbit about `Tol being set in this place.

Prior to this film Miko Livelo has directed two seasons of “Tanods” a Web Series that tells about the local watchmen or “Barangay Tanods” set in the town of San Laan. So it happens to catch my attention in seeing this film that there might be continuity between the aforementioned web series and `Tol.

From L to R: Joel Ferrer as Juwel, Gilbert Orcine, Norman Jader as Nameless Tambay 02, & Herald Chavez as Santillian

Juwel Makes a Cameo

If you haven’t heard of Juwel, he’s one of the characters in Tanods portrayed by Joel Ferrer, the same guy who co-wrote the screenplay for `Tol and has directed some good films too with a new one with “Elise” (starts playing in Philippine Cinemas 6 February 2019 – Shameless Plugging).

Besides Joel Ferrer, there’s Gilbert Orcine too but he’s portraying a different character. Then there’s Brian Wilson who also appears in the web series is not counted as a cameo in this film as he portrays Steve a different character or is it the twin brother of Matthew Owens?

Punch Kick logo first appeared on Blue Bustamante Sneak Peek Trailer in 2013.

Punch Kick Logo

During one scene with Joross Gamboa’s Dimitri in his room browsing a ‘How to do Magic” website while pulling a sword, there’s that “Punch Kick” logo. For those who have followed Miko Livelo this was his sort of ‘Production Company’ when he presented ‘Blue Bustamante’ as his film for Cinema One Film Festival in 2013. It’s a portmanteau of sort taking the alias as “Miko Punch” while his artistic younger brother Jolo Livelo takes the alias of “Jolo Kick.”

There might still be Easter Eggs abound in this film that’s hard to tell. There was another character with Juwel in the gas station that also appeared in Tanods, but I’m not sure if this was Herald Chavel playing as another local or Santillian. But when it comes to good Filipino humor people who grew up watching old comedy flicks in the 1990s can gravitate to `Tol with the incorporation of new style storytelling.

Although this film is on a very limited run catch `Tol if you can in SM Cinemas it won’t disappoint because post-credit scenes might surprise you or post-credit audio music that you' chant that God is Number One or something what religious preachers who just rides the bus and starts singing to that kind of tune.

The simple narrative about friendships and crushes maybe the focus, but there are other things you’ll notice. Arjo Atayde is a rare gem in this group having portrayed mostly villain roles on television (Ang Probinsyano) and films (Buybust) this guy continues his trajectory in the local industry. There’s also a good performance from Joross Gamboa and how does his beard grow and disappear is left me in question.

Ketchup Eusebio has impeccable timing with humor and has made LOTS of films already. I can never forget his portrayal in the short film Maskot from five years ago. While Jessy Mendiola was a delight as Elena she has some revelations too unrelated to what has been discussed here save to encourage you to watch the film.

"`TOL" Release Dates | 30 January 2019 in the Philippines from Reality Entertainment!

RATED: B+

NOTE: This film was screened publicly in SM Manila in the City of Manila, Metro Manila. This is reviewed with a personal opinion without spoilers not for you to agree or disagree about the views written by the author but to gain insight on his perspective about the film.