"Blackout presents a very small corner of Philippine city life through the eyes of Gil (Robin Padilla), a lowly apartment building owner. The idea of seeing/living through another's eyes is not that simple, as Gil experiences frequent blackouts due to his heavy drinking, a result of the fact that the mother of his child, Nino, left them with no intention of coming back. Over and above this is the mystery of the bloody rear bumper of his car, which he discovers in the film's first sequence between the moments of extreme inebriation to eventual blackout. Who/what did he hit? What's striking outside of the horror/suspense plot is a kind of meditation on the in/ability to see so crucial to the film experience that also informs the technical aspect of the film. The film is filled with "visual" markers such as mirrors, a tenant who has a pair of eyes tattooed on his chest and a sole eye tattooed in the back. Some of the cuts are so rapid as to mimic blinking, or even the blackouts that Gil experiences, which continually disorient his in/ability to see and therefore our in/ability to see. If the subject of seeing sounds a little suspect for a feature film, Bautista manages to fashion a work thick with ominous ambiance that goes beyond horror/suspense conventions; the ending and "answer" to the mystery become secondary to seeing someone's in/sight fall apart. Despite a critique of insularity in the service of atmosphere, at 26 years of age, Bautista promises some exciting Philippine filmmaking. With Blackout, his second feature, produced/distributed by Unitel Pictures, hopefully more people will be exposed to his burgeoning work. "--Rowena Aquino
