Eddie Garcia Perfect In The Role Of The Aging Gay Hero In 'Bwakaw'

WRITER-DIRECTOR JUN LANA’S Cinemalaya entry“Bwakaw” is a heartwarming character portrait of an eccentric, aging gay man that is alternately funny and moving. It has so many hilarious scenes that make the viewers laugh out loud, especially those involving Rene (Eddie Garcia) and his two swishy parlorista friends (Soxy Topacio and Joey Paras.) The most ribtickling is that scene where he falls asleep on the coffin he bought in advance and his friends thought he’s already dead.

Eddie is in every scene of the film and he nails each scene right, including the kissing scene with Rez Cortez as a tricycle driver he falls in love with but who rejects him. The final scene with “Bwakaw” is a tearjerker. Aside from Rez, Soxy and Joey, Eddie also gets excellent support from Luz Valdez as his office mate who dreams of joining her daughter in Canada, Gardo Versoza as the understanding parish priest, Beverly Salviejo as Eddie’s neighbor who has deep faith in the Santo Entierro image he sleeps with in his bedroom and Armida Siguion Reyna as Eddie’s former girlfriend afflicted with dementia.

This kind of movie can never be produced in mainstream cinema so we’re happy there’s Cinemalaya that gave Jun Lana the chance to do this film, which he dedicates to the late playwright Rene O. Villanueva. Eddie Garcia comes full circle in this movie as the very first film where he played a closet queen, "Tubog sa Ginto" of the late Lino Brocka, is also being shown in Cinemalaya as part of the late Mario O'Hara's retrospective.