WHERE IS THE LIE?

Hopeless romantic Janzen finds another chance at love when she matches with the handsome and seemingly perfect Theo on a dating app. Unfortunately, on the day of their meet-up, Theo ghosts her, leading Janzen into an intricate web of deceit, lies, and catfishing led by sociopathic mastermind Beanie, a beautiful and successful female commercials director, doing this simply to cyberbully the LGBTQIA+ online community for her own “shits and giggles.” The audience is privy to the plans that entrap and entangle her in a madwoman’s web of deceit, fueling recourse for Janzen to put the pieces together and punish the perpetrators. Director Quark Henares crafts a rare work that transforms the genre into something far deeper and more moving, with a humorous and hard-hitting script based on a real-life incident (chronicled in a controversial Twitter thread in 2020 that took Philippines social media by storm at the height of lockdown), as well as a star-making performance by luminous trans woman EJ Jallorina as Janzen. It’s a vibrant Gen Z-skewing film, with candy-colored sets, frenetic pacing, and ample use of multiple screens, but it’s also a cautionary tale for all generations, and ultimately, a celebration of much-deserved payback.