Asog (2025) Review: Queer Joy After the Typhoon

Is Asog worth watching?

Yes, with some reservations. Asog is a spirited, genuinely original film that finds humour and tenderness in a community still living with the aftermath of disaster, and its central figure is impossible not to root for. Seán Devlin mixes surreal comedy with documentary realism to talk about climate change, queer identity and colonial history without ever sounding like a lecture. The reservation is that the mix does not always hold together: the film’s tone swings widely, and its looser passages can feel more like a collection of ideas than a story.

What is Asog about?

Rey (Rey Jaya Aclao) is a 40-year-old non-binary schoolteacher in the Philippines and a survivor of a devastating typhoon. Still carrying the losses of that storm, Rey sets off on a road trip with an unlikely goal: fame. Along the way, the journey brings Rey into contact with other survivors, local characters and the lingering marks of the disaster, and the film uses each stop to widen its view of a country shaped by storms, poverty and history.

Asog is directed by Seán Devlin and blends staged, scripted scenes with documentary elements. It is a Canada–Philippines co-production in Filipino that runs 101 minutes, with a cast that also includes Amelia De La Cruz, Ricky Gacho Jr., Arnel Pablo and Raul Ramos. It won the Committee Choice award for Feature Narrative at the 2024 Balinale festival in Bali.

A hero built for comedy and resilience

The film’s greatest asset is Rey. Aclao has an easy, warm screen presence, funny, flamboyant and completely unselfconscious, and the camera clearly adores Rey’s confidence. The film’s comedy comes largely from Rey’s optimism colliding with a world that has given little reason for it, and Aclao plays those moments with a lightness that never mocks the character.

Rey’s non-binary identity is presented as simply part of who Rey is, not a problem to be solved. The title reaches back to precolonial Visayan tradition, in which the asog were gender-crossing spiritual figures, and that connection gives the film a quietly radical argument: queer people in the Philippines are not a modern import but part of a much older history that colonialism tried to erase.

Laughing in the wreckage

Devlin, a comedian as well as a filmmaker, understands that humour can be a form of survival. Several scenes play as absurdist sketches, deadpan and sometimes surreal, and they sit beside moments where survivors describe loss directly and plainly. The juxtaposition is often striking, reminding viewers that disaster is not only tragic but also bureaucratic, strange and, occasionally, ridiculous.

The film’s politics are clear, particularly on climate change and on the gap between the countries that cause emissions and the communities that pay for them. It generally makes those points through people and places rather than speeches, which keeps it from feeling preachy.

Where the hybrid form wobbles

The same freedom that gives the film its charm also makes it uneven. The road-trip structure is loose, and some episodes feel more like digressions than steps in a journey. Transitions between the comic and documentary modes can be abrupt, and viewers may sometimes be unsure how to read a scene. Supporting characters come and go quickly, and the emotional arc, while sincere, is less developed than the film’s themes. It is a film of wonderful moments rather than a fully shaped whole.

Who should watch Asog?

It is best for adventurous viewers who enjoy hybrid films that blur documentary and fiction, for audiences interested in LGBTQ+ stories from Southeast Asia, and for anyone curious about the human side of climate change. It includes discussion of death and disaster, some mild language and adult themes, but little graphic content. At 101 minutes, it is an easy commitment.

If it appeals, consider:

• Beasts of the Southern Wild, another story of a community living with storms and flooding, told through a fantastical lens.
• Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a Canadian comedy that also plays games with the line between staged and real.

The verdict

Asog is a warm, funny and politically sharp film with an unforgettable central presence, using comedy to talk about loss, climate and queer history with rare lightness. Its loose structure keeps it from being as powerful as it could be, but it is a rewarding discovery for curious viewers.

Rating: 3.5/5