Newbie actor Jansen Magpusao is a revelation in the lead role of John Denver, a regular kid given to occasional misdemeanors. His character was not one of many words -- he would keep his problems to himself so as not to bother and add more concerns to his harried mother -- so mostly it was only his face which had to convey the turmoil of emotions within him.
Fortunately, the camera loves the 15-year old's expressive face, and the angles and lighting made his silent close-ups so poignant. His inexperience is occasionally betrayed by some awkward line delivery -- however, in this case, it actually enhanced the film's authenticity.
Everything that could go wrong in a case like this was explored. The most maddening scene was that when the video statement of copra farmer Mang Mando (Glenn Mas) was digitally manipulated to seal John Denver's fate. The most chilling scene was that one-on-one confrontation scene where police officer SPO1 Rolando Corpus (Sammy Rubido) was intimidating and coercing John Denver to confess to something he never did.
John Denver Trending is so successful in embracing a growing universe of problems that when it decided to end as a morality play that pins blame, its enormous efforts suddenly shrink. Sure, there is undeniable and immediate emotional heft in an ending that pits life with something as petty as an unsubstantiated theft. However, with an ending that is underwhelming, John Denver Trending loses its real luster – which is not its currency, but its willingness to explore with comprehensive and exacting detail the full picture of fragile innocence under the most unreasonable of doubts.
Maybe because if the film focuses on the fact that John Denver beat up a classmate, the narrative would be difficult to push through. So it focuses instead on what would hurt the victim the most: being accused of something that he didn’t do.
John Denver is already guilty of physical violence, but he’s not guilty of stealing and writer/director Arden Ron Condez uses this instead to propel the plot. It hurts like hell if you’re falsely accused by a person, but for the entire town charging you of a crime that you didn’t do, with some even jumping in to embellish the lie, it effectively breaks the spirit.
Arden Rod Condez’s John Denver Trending will most likely be beloved not just for its currency but also for its unsubtle messaging. In a world that has been drastically made smaller by social media, a film that puts at the center of its concerns the glaring dangers of the conveniences of virtual connections is not just pertinent, but also important.
Condez does not rely on relevance, as John Denver Trending is a profoundly layered film. It situates its story of the school boy amazingly played by Jansen Magpusao in the remotest of communities to pit physical disconnect with the haphazard judgments made from quick accusations, conjectures, alarming photos and sensational videos that are all uploaded online. The film works hard for verisimilitude.
It creates a living and breathing ecosystem where past and present collide, and tradition and technology merge, all in the service of not just exposing a society’s hypocrisy but also for tying such dangerous presumptuousness with all other vices that have existed long before the advent of the internet.
