WORKING BEKS (2016) Review
Directed by Chris Martinez
You’ll probably think that Working Beks is a spin-off of the 1984 or 2010 film Working Girls, and maybe you’re right. Chris Martinez’s gay-centric film isn’t boasting about the stereotypes of being gay, or the stereotypes of gay films. It’s mostly a celebration of being true to oneself and fighting for the rights of gay people, not just because they are human but also because they are part of the society.
The film Working Beks is about five gay man living their lives, normal lives but the being gay makes it hard for them to function the same way as the straight people do. Each character has different struggles, one having a family of his own, out and proud with a partner and two daughters but his work only “tolerates” his gayness instead of accepting it, one dealing with a probable AIDS/HIV sickness because of being sexually active with multiple partners, one, trying to have a future with a woman, having struggles if it’s what he wants or is just an ideal life, another is a closeted actor who is torn between staying in the closet and continue with a stable career and lastly, the bread winner of the family who is tired of being the only one who gives in the family.
The film wants to revolutionize how the audience think of gay people on screen. Not having the clown gay or the provocative gay on screen, just stories of normal people living their lives, trying to get by every day, the same way straight people does. It tackles timely themes such as being safe in having multiple partners and the consequences of it, liberating oneself of being gay not because they’re entitled to but because they have the right to. The film just presents that gay people are having the same struggles as straight people, and the world is big enough for everyone to live in harmony, in equal, without judgements and discriminations.
3 OUT OF 5 STARS
“Working Beks” is now showing in Philippine cinemas nationwide from VIVA Films. Rated R-13 by the MTRCB.