Traumatic sister act in new Lamangan movie

Quinn Carillo and Angelica Cervantes play long-lost sisters determined to restore the meaning of family.

What is a family? In school, it is defined in the following ways: as the basic unit of society, where individuals first learn values and differentiate what's right from wrong, and as one's safe place.

Such is not the case in multi-awarded filmmaker Joel Lamangan's latest obra for Vivamax where two long-lost sisters reunited experience chaos and abuse in their dysfunctional family.

Streaming since July 1, “Biyak” follows the story of siblings Violet (Angelica Cervantes) and Samantha (Quinn Carillo), that grew up in two different worlds when the former was given up for adoption as a child. Though taken in by a wealthy family and living a comfortable life, Violet suffers constant sexual abuse from her adoptive father.

Desperate to escape this misery, she searches for her real family with the help of her boyfriend, William (Vance Larena). From a fruitful search, she reconnects with her biological mother and meets her half-sister, Samantha.

Samantha, on the other hand, is a tough girl who grew up in the slums. A former drug courier, she is now a police asset and helps police officers like Erwin (Albie Casiño) solve drug-related cases.

In a twisted way, the two sisters find common ground when they reveal to each other that their separate worlds revolve around drugs and sexual abuse. Now that they've got each other's back, the rest of the story sees them determined to restore the meaning of family in their life together.

Vivamax is available across the Philippines, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA.