Sagaran
Paul Estero
" Given these three examples and the basic colouring, but rich textures, there is an above-average quality to the overall score, but only within this kind of Filipino subgenre. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the music as heard in the movie
Sagaran and Pansamantala are thus far the two 2026 outings of composer Paul Estero delving deeper into a peculiar, but not necessarily Philippine trade alone, type of subgenre. For Sagaran, he is not credited as composer but as sound designer and musical director.
In only 12 of these recent Philippine efforts, their original scores both share a lot in common while being distinctive for a product that does not necessarily demand quality-based original scores. The film is unnoteworthy in capturing a modern crossover between franchises (Fast and Furious,Culpa and Initial D) and all things considered in relationships. It is about Jack's motor shop and related people who all go through a level of deceit, love, and drama in their concurrences.
Estero's music is electronic-based and follows along a path of a music video approach in writing, or one might call it colouring, rather than composing. And yet, given its huge reliance on hip montage music, using beats and percussion, it is unusually varied; most of its cues employ different sounds all the time, from electronic inferior, disoriented, manipulated paces and vibrations, using a rich amount of processed samples of actual instruments, including oriental strings and a woodwind. While the music comes and goes in a fatigued colouring mode of virtually no dramatic relevance, it is wholeheartedly appropriate.
There are a few, while being commonplace, moments to be highlighted. As Jack, a younger person, maintains a relationship with a much older woman, played by Yda Manzano, it gets disrupted once cheating and jealousy become a part of their lives. Oriental snared plucking is used to underscore her sense of jealousy and discomfort, or perhaps it offers a thematic representation of cheating overall. A second highlight is a cue between two other characters, of whom the woman is with someone else, underscored by an almost rock anthem, using 1980s-type electronics. I have never liked them at the time, but here it is, wrongfully, almost emotionally, swayed by its effectiveness in a ‘steamy’ scene. The third cue for the venereal abuse sequence is out of place in a film that aims at a wholly different target group, but how Paul Estero handles it is very effective. Jack's current relationship is disturbed as he starts to feel attracted to another woman, who, as time passes, gets involved with one of his employees. As Jack preludes by spilling something in her drink, underscored by an effective, eerie, pulsing beat, it segues into the abuse itself, in which the pulse, a disturbing, atmospheric reverberating underlayer of electronics and veiled voices, underscores the discomfort.
Given these three examples and the basic colouring, but rich textures, there is an above-average quality to the overall score, but only within this kind of Filipino subgenre.
(13-03-2026)
Also read https://www.maintitles.net/reviews/angkinin-mo-ako/
In only 12 of these recent Philippine efforts, their original scores both share a lot in common while being distinctive for a product that does not necessarily demand quality-based original scores. The film is unnoteworthy in capturing a modern crossover between franchises (Fast and Furious,Culpa and Initial D) and all things considered in relationships. It is about Jack's motor shop and related people who all go through a level of deceit, love, and drama in their concurrences.
Estero's music is electronic-based and follows along a path of a music video approach in writing, or one might call it colouring, rather than composing. And yet, given its huge reliance on hip montage music, using beats and percussion, it is unusually varied; most of its cues employ different sounds all the time, from electronic inferior, disoriented, manipulated paces and vibrations, using a rich amount of processed samples of actual instruments, including oriental strings and a woodwind. While the music comes and goes in a fatigued colouring mode of virtually no dramatic relevance, it is wholeheartedly appropriate.
There are a few, while being commonplace, moments to be highlighted. As Jack, a younger person, maintains a relationship with a much older woman, played by Yda Manzano, it gets disrupted once cheating and jealousy become a part of their lives. Oriental snared plucking is used to underscore her sense of jealousy and discomfort, or perhaps it offers a thematic representation of cheating overall. A second highlight is a cue between two other characters, of whom the woman is with someone else, underscored by an almost rock anthem, using 1980s-type electronics. I have never liked them at the time, but here it is, wrongfully, almost emotionally, swayed by its effectiveness in a ‘steamy’ scene. The third cue for the venereal abuse sequence is out of place in a film that aims at a wholly different target group, but how Paul Estero handles it is very effective. Jack's current relationship is disturbed as he starts to feel attracted to another woman, who, as time passes, gets involved with one of his employees. As Jack preludes by spilling something in her drink, underscored by an effective, eerie, pulsing beat, it segues into the abuse itself, in which the pulse, a disturbing, atmospheric reverberating underlayer of electronics and veiled voices, underscores the discomfort.
Given these three examples and the basic colouring, but rich textures, there is an above-average quality to the overall score, but only within this kind of Filipino subgenre.
(13-03-2026)
Also read https://www.maintitles.net/reviews/angkinin-mo-ako/