Here is a film that evokes the question, “What the hell is that?”, though in the best possible way. To attempt to classify Rico Maria Ilarde’s latest feature would bring on a massive headache. The atmosphere, the music, the uninhabited house in some remote suburb, the trembling of the high cogon grass beneath which some unspeakable creature lies, suggest that Beneath The Cogon is a horror film. And yet there is a heist, two violent deaths, a getaway, and a ganglord intent on getting his stolen money back. The ganglord, a bit of a philosopher, makes a speech about guilt and responsibility that somehow involves the American military invasion of Iraq. Then there is a boy and a girl. The boy - a grown man, really, but he looks like a boy - has romantic yearnings. He thinks of the wife who left him. The girl, raised on fairy tales, waits for the handsome prince who will take her away from her lonely prison - which she is free to leave, but won’t for some reason. There is the mystery of the house - comfortable, nicely-furnished, empty, but seemingly awaiting the return of its owners. Who are its owners? Who are the people in the photographers - the distinguished-looking gentleman and the woman whose face has been covered? And what is that hideous thing under the cogon, waiting to be unveiled? Ilarde prefers to tantalize the audience instead of plying them with answers outright - this movie can be as bizarre as you want it to be. When the movie opens, the hero Sam (Yul Servo) seems to be pondering these very questions. He’s lying on the ground, wounded, perhaps dying, wondering how he came to this. He tells us his story. While in jail for vagrancy, Sam, a former soldier, meets Pepito (Raul Morit), a petty criminal who recruits him to do a job for the ganglord Johnny- B (Dido de la Paz). They rob a factory and get away with the money, but then Pepito tries to kill Sam. Sam escapes with the money and takes refuge in the mysterious house that nobody lives in. The house is surrounded by fields of tall cogon grass, and we are offered tantalizing glimpses of some creature that lives in the undergrowth. Each day Katia (Julia Clarete) appears to leave food wrapped in leaves at the edge of the cogon. Sam is fascinated with the girl, and contrives to meet her. A relationship develops between these lonely people. Meanwhile, Johnny-B orders his thugs to find Sam and retrieve his loot. Beneath The Cogon is a movie of suggestions and undertones, half-forgotten memories and startling discoveries. The audience has literally no idea where it’s going, but it’s a trip worth taking.