The first hangover as an initiatory adventure

When this critic saw the Filipino horror anthology Shake, rattle & roll in the wee hours of the morning and in a copy of dubious origin, he could not have imagined that years later one of the monsters that appears in it –the Manananggal, a winged creature capable of separating its torso from its legs– would have a prominent role in a Hollywood animated film for all audiences. But that is precisely what The Forgotten Island proposes, which stars two girls, Jo and Raissa, who have forged their friendship based on a shared fascination for the folkloric creatures of their land. On the night they are to part ways to embark on the path to adulthood, a portal opens right in front of them that leads them to the mythical island of Nakali, where they throw a formidable party… of which they remember nothing the next day, and they must ask for help from dog-boys and baby-demons to scratch together the clues that will allow them to retrace their steps and return home.

The synopsis presents the film as a youthful and magical version of The Hangover (with energy drinks replacing other types of substances), although its dramatic core ends up gravitating toward what Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman created in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For its part, the phosphorescent and ultra-kinetic forms of the proposal also reveal the assimilation by the Western mainstream of the codes of anime, an orientalism that perhaps turns out to be a bit generic for a film that shares the enthusiasm of its protagonists: to make the audience vibrate with the imagery of a culture generally kept away from the spotlight.