Final Rating: 4/5
An opening monologue framed in cosmic camp is interrupted to ask our outwardly meek protagonist with a larger-than-life inner mindscape (Ada, voiced by Phi Palmos) if he’s done, because there’s salon work to tend to – and it’s the perfect introduction to this irreverent story where the stakes are both deeply personal and delightfully intergalactic.
What follows in co-writer/director Avid Liongoren’s Zsazsa Zaturnnah (subtitled vs. the Amazonistas of Planet X) is a deeply reverent (as much as it is tongue-in-cheek) exploration of the culture of small-town life in the Philippines, from the perspective of a kind person shaped by trauma who isn’t interested in your gender norms. (Voiced in English, for wider international impact.)
As Ada becomes a comet-gulping superhero with a voluptuous female alter ego (the titular Zsaza Zaturnnah, voiced by Adrienne Vergara), these 80 minutes lay some surprisingly nuanced ground work to help audiences understand the differences between a male drag queen (Ada) and a trans woman (very pointedly not Ada, who is most himself as a man).
All while, of course, Ada uses his new gender-fuck superpowers to save his town from maurading giant frogs, zombies, man-hating glamazons from outerspace, and the young bully brothers of his charmingly attentive crush Dogong (Sig Pecho). Not to mention running a struggling business and hosting homespun drag shows at Ada’s salon. None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of that sometimes catty interrupter of the opening monologue, Ada’s roommate and employee and “guy in the chair” Didi (Io Balanon).
This character and premise has 25 years of history in Ada’s home country, where Zsazsa Zaturnnah debuted as a short series of graphic novels from Filipino illustrator and graphic designer Carlo Vergara – the other co-writer of this film – in 2002. Several volumes later, 2006 saw the debut of both a stage-musical version of the story and a live-action film adaptation titled Zsazsa Zaturnnah Ze Moveeh, directed by Joel Lamangan. This latest animated outing adds a fresh new story to the canon, brought to life through a quirky-cute art style, centering characters with snub noses and bouffant hair, drawn onto layers of background texture illustrating rural life in the Philippines against a soft, pink-tinted color palate.
It’s difficult not to develop an immediate soft spot for Ada, who dispenses free services and advice to locals in need, placing the rest of the town in his deep karmic debt even before the out-of-this-world superhero shenanigans begin. Ada, who sings off key for the sheer joy of it, and rejects the call of the big city in favor of his community at home. Flashbacks to mistreatment at the hands of especially his father and an emotionally abusive ex illustrate how far he’s come, while a clear lack of confidence or trust in the good will of anyone but best friend Didi show how much room there is yet to grow.
This earnestness is dressed in layers of playfully crude humor – like jokes about Ada’s uncanny ability to swallow the large rock that gives him access to his female alter ego. Although this binge-and-purge process smacks also of potentially disordered eating in the quest for societally-acceptable beauty, this is a story that never takes itself too seriously, and whose more awkward moments serve only to underline the achingly real humanity at its heart.
On the other hand, the bombastic action sequences keep it feeling fun. But, even Zsazsa Zaturnnah’s boldest, brashest moments boast loud-mouthed nuance for those willing to listen. There’s a spectrum of human experience on display here, and allies are questioned when the man-ocidal Amazonistas of the subtitle arrive to destroy any vestiges of bearers of the XY chromosome that sought to subjugate them on their own home planet.
The movie shouts rather than whispers “NOT ALL MEN!” while also showing the capacity of even would-be local villains to change and grow. Because, as the film proclaims in what may be its central thesis: “You can’t solve problems with hate.”
A short runtime keeps Zsazsa Zaturnnah more slight than epic, but offers an easy way to wade into the rich inner worlds of this cast of quirky characters that you’ll almost certainly enjoy spending just over an hour with. Or that may even leave you scrambling for a hold at your local library for three volumes of expanded backstory to unlock more of this world.
Thank you to Rocketsheep Studio for the screener.
