Although it’s also the name for a vegetable common to the Philippines, there’s nothing ordinary about the film titled Kangkong (2001). A spiritual coming-of-age drama, the film chronicles the story of a young man who undergoes much confusion in deciding whether to join the priesthood. The primary factor keeping Carlos (Rodel Velayo) from the seminary is a sex-starved maiden played by Brigette De Joya. Director Mauro Gia Samonte captures the couple’s transgressive affair in a series of scintillating shots.