In a desolate location, a man happens to catch a glimpse of a teenager and a Caucasian man tossing parts of a bed into a fire while deliberately trying to avoid being spotted. After that, the story focuses on Jason who makes use of the cash he acquired to buy a bag of cement, then, without wasting much time, fires his maid, Ingrid, who just so happens to be his wife’s cousin. Ingrid tries to make sense of the situation but is in a state of shock. The pieces do not add up, she reaches out to Jason, and his wasn’t much about talking. Nor did his son seem to want to talk to her. Ingrid rushes to her neighbor and hope to find her son, she instructs him to observe Jason from a tree, since he display inappropriate behavior.
Finally, she brings her husband and her other son, Rommel, who ordinarily drives Jason’s two daughters to school, in on the fray asking them to find out what is going on. What they also find out only heightens the mystery more, as even Rommel has no idea where Luna is. By now, Jason is trying to abduct his entire family and make his long standing move to the US but seems to be running into various complications.
From practically the start (that is after the initial sequence), Sonny Calvento manages to build up an atmosphere of suspense that stems from Jason’s overly active and aggressive demeanor together with those of his son who barely says a word and Ingrid who has a lot of uneasiness which in fact is the only thing going on for the film throughout its 95 minute run time. This is compounded by the efforts that Jason proceeds to make while Ingrid proceeds to unfold what is common sense in that Ingrid wants to know why are they trying to leave the country. This two pronged strategy, along with the tension permeating the scene, certainly enhances the sense of crime/mystery in the movie, however it gives Calvento room for social commentary, which happens to get amplified when the police get involved.
Right from the start, it is clear that racism is somehow involved in how the locals treat the one American in the neighborhood. Cheating, exploiting, or simply hating him is no good, and Jason’s behavior is not quite helpful either. The Calventos have an approach that is similar, where they make him ‘carry’ their son and so on. It is also a comment about how the state of affairs is in that particular country when local politicians and the police also become an aspect that complicates matters. Jason selling his car or trying to get money to buy plane tickets also commented on how the system of the country worked. The narrative brings out more of these relations, how specifically ‘neighborhoods’ exists as communities complete with the politics and the desire to aid.
Calvento is also pretty good at building scenes, especially the ending, splicing the footage so that the character’s focus shifts constantly and the feeling of suspense is upheld at the end. Jason directing and final touches helped with it greatly too, even though I was exceedingly disappointed with the ending. It is plausible, to a certain extent, that the character drank alcohol and struggled, this perhaps justifies Jason contemplating the scene and losing focus but any viewer already knows that This is not always how things go, and the ending once again somewhere in the distance appears unrealistic and alters the audience’s perception regarding everything that has happened so far.
In contrast to many foreign actors who perform in Asian films, Billy Ray Gallion portrays the villain in a fair way without portraying him as a cartoon figure. The culture and style which Alajar embodies together with the relenting, obsessive and nurturing character can steal anyone’s show as Ingrid does.
With the exception of the end and a couple of glitches with the screen play here and there, “The Decaying” is on the same level and renders credence to the strength of the nation’s industry in this particular genre as the other figures whose works were mentioned in the prologue.
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