Australian filmmaker Andrew Leavold—who operates a cult video store—is fascinated with an unlikely, and now largely forgotten, movie star from schlocky Filipino action pictures made in the 1980s. That star was Weng Weng, a diminutive (less than three feet tall) performer who rose from bit parts to play a James Bond-like spy character named “00” (i.e., “double-oh”) in a series of popular if crudely shot comedy-thrillers. Open to doing his own dangerous stunts, Weng Weng wasn't required to do much acting beyond projecting a winning, boyish innocence. But then he dropped from sight, and years later Leavold travels to the Philippines to find out what happened. For a while, viewers are best served by keeping expectations low: The Search for Weng Weng suffers from subpar production values, and Leavold's quest initially seems stuck at the level of interviewing cult-movie experts about Filipino pop culture. But everything changes once Leavold learns that Weng Weng led a Dickensian existence as a poor, hungry boy—considered “handicapped” because of his size—who was charitably raised by the very movie producers who would one day transform him into 00. Leavold also discovers that those producers were favored guests of the country's late, controversial president Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos, a revelation that leads to Imelda inviting the schlubby Leavold to visit her on her 83rd birthday and pay tribute to Ferdinand's preserved corpse. From here, Leavold follows a zig-zag path toward the conclusion of Weng Weng's strange story. If viewers can put up with the jittery, amateurish camerawork, this is an ultimately satisfying if also surreal true-life tale. Extras include an audio commentary, extended sequences, deleted scenes, and an “I Love Weng Weng” music video. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
The Search for Weng Weng
(2016) 92 min. DVD: 14.95. Wild Eye Releasing (avail. from most distributors). Volume 32, Issue 2
The Search for Weng Weng
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