Let’s RAKENROL!

At long last, after 2 1/2 years of incessant demands from fans via Twitter and Facebook (and some direct mail threats), RAKENROL is finally out on DVD!

The film is director Quark Henares (“Keka”, “’Wag Kang Lilingon”) and co-writer Diego Castillo’s (guitarist of Sandwich and music video director) ode to the Philippine rock music scene, which both consider their home.

In it, Irene (Glaiza de Castro, Temptation of Wife, Amaya) and Odie (Jason Abalos, Endo, Mara Clara) are outsiders who become best friends because of their common love for rock n’ roll.

Odie eventually falls in love with Irene, and helps fulfill her dream of forming a band. They recruit an ex-punk-turned-barista named Mo (Ketchup Eusebio, Guns and Roses, My Amnesia Girl) and the school bully Junfour (Alwyn Uytingco, Imortal, Ang Tanging Ina movies), deciding to call their band HAPIPAKS.

In the process, Irene is wooed by her “all-time supercrush”, the famous rockstar Jacci Rocha (Diether Ocampo).

Will Odie’s love for music and Irene prevail, or will the one thing that brought them together end up destroying them?

The supporting characters add color and humor to the cast, with Ramon Bautista as the music video director Flame Tigerblüden, Ricardo Cepeda as a samurai marketing guru, Jun Sabayton as Mo’s artist roommate, Hiyasmin Neri as Junfour’s pregnant girlfriend, and Matet de Leon as... Matet de Leon.

RAKENROL is Henares’s fifth film, the director having done everything from internationally-acclaimed cult films (Keka) to big-budget Metro Manila Filmfest movies (Super Noypi). This, however, is his most personal film, and he’s glad to collaborate with one of his closest friends on the project.

“Diego and I have probably done everything music-wise together,” the young fimmaker says, “We’ve hosted radio shows, co-directed videos, we’ve written articles about music. We were even in a band together once!”

Castillo reveals that the film is very autobiographical. “We’re both from and into the local music industry and I guess a lot of our mutual friends started off in the scene and we both thought it would be a good idea to chronicle the things that we’ve seen over the years,” he says.

RAKENROL is out now on DVD in Astro Vision, Astroplus, Odyssey, SM Music & Video and Landmark at P350.  It’s packed with bonus features and easter eggs, including a director and writer commentary, trailers, deleted scenes, music videos that inspired the look of the film and scenes from the RAKENROL “Spin-off” TV Show, RAKISTA.

The official launch party is slated on February 8, and will kick off with a free screening and the first ever cast + crew Q&A at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street at 7 p.m. It will be followed by an afterparty concert at Route 196 along Katipunan, featuring many of the bands from the film including Pedicab, Ciudad, Taken by Cars, Kate Torralba, Purplechickens and The Strangeness.

Finally, everything winds down at Black Market Makati with the Diegos at around 1 a.m.  

Celebrate one of the most amazing and crazy subcultures in the Philippines with the Rakenrol DVD!