What a Journey

Where's my uniform?

This is the first film that I have seen and the only one that required a second viewing (since its first screening had a technical problem). I am a bit compulsive in not deviating from a well-planned schedule. So I have to endure the technological malfunction and the queasy visuals. I was relieved after my second screening for the reason that despite the irrevocable film crash that happened on its first screening, my assessment of the film is much higher for improved visual experience.

Colorum is about Simon (Alfred Vargas), a young cop who inadvertently meets an ex-convict named Pedro (Lou Veloso) while driving his illegal FX taxi along the metropolis. Upon reaching the end route, Pedro still could not direct him to the Oasis Bus Liner. Simon courteously offers to bring him to the terminal. While they are arguing and looking for signs, Simon accidentally hit a man on the street. Fear of getting busted with his illegal taxi, he locked Pedro as advised by his godfather (Archie Adamos) and embarked on a road trip to Visayas to avoid probable incarceration.

So from that premise alone, we are now wary to avoid misfortune. If Simon could have known from the start that Pedro was an ex-convict, he could have made a pass. Before they meet, it was revealed that Pedro is looking for his only son after thirty years of being in prison. He tried to re-establish his relationship but his son obviously stands firm to cut the ties. The interesting feature in Pedro is that he was played by the pleasing and talented comic actor Lou Veloso. If not for him, I would not even care for the character. Since Veloso is the one playing it, the character of Simon could not resist but help. I would certainly do the same.

Alfred Vargas is a good choice for the role and he played the character without superfluities that most mainstream actors are supposedly known. In here, he was still charming and his approach is very minimalist. His competence as an actor is tested upon his pairing with Veloso. The younger-senior combination swiftly coheres upon the progression of the story. It is a good duo even when there are characters that interfere, both actors shine all throughout. Some might be indifferent with the intervention of minor characters; the failed writer, a teenage girl who is seeking for an abortion and a sham religious preacher. But the movie is most likely in the road trip genre and they have a destination. The director also used situational story devices to enhance the journey by creating blocks, detours and even stopovers. The characters themselves are mere situational devices used to show how a created tandem would react in different social contexts. The essence of its entirety is that it will have logic. Colorum has simple aims with the situations they have presented but the add-ons made the film more convincing and engaging.

This is Jon Steffan Ballesteros first venture into film directing. He wrote it together with fellow screenwriters Diana Malahay (Baby Angelo) and Jerry Gracio (Astig, Imoral). Colorum has also its faults. First, I remember one sequence where Pedro’s character in spite of being a sinner and an ex-criminal, he lectures way too much. This is where the saying less is more could have been applied. Anyway, this could be minor but could really make a little or considerable difference. Hopefully, the promise they have shown here will still improve for their future films. Stories are the important element in films. Just like in Colorum, some lessons are learned the harder way.
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Charlie Koon's Rating:

Love Gone Wrong

Zombie... Be scared

When I Met U is a Valentine movie offering of two of this generation’s hottest celebrities. It is also a follow-up from the success of the film For the First Time. Despite the predicaments our nation is facing, romcom flicks are very much marketable. The jam-packed theatres are the gauge to say that a film is a sensation. And yes, it is and this film has a very good advertising strategy to achieve financial success. But I beg to disagree - the insight of love the film story has set is a sure letdown on my part. Well, who cares anyway? This particular film is what the audience wanted – guilty pleasure I suppose. The kilig aspect is tolerable. But we have to explicate the rationale why this real love they are trying to advertise is just a mere artificial love.

Am I on the same boat with the audience? Oh yes, definitely. I have been championing these kinds of films for such a time. But for this film, it is shameful to succumb only to what the audience only wanted. Our local audience has been susceptible to a film’s promise of true love; even mistaking the kilig facet as the love. Escapism is indeed the bread and butter of the Filipino movie industry. I watched this during Valentine’s Day and I was not surprised with how the film faired with the audience. They got pleasure from the film for different reasons I suppose. It’s inevitable that the two lead stars look good as a love pair. Also, the film has ample amount of crappy mushy moments the audience will surely crave. I have to negate every single asset the film has because it reflects a different connotation to what kilig and love is all about.

To be honest, the film story is a representation of our generation. It is a story of two people who are trapped in unhappy relationships. Jenny (KC Concepcion) is a promodizer who is in a relationship with a serious veterinarian Albert (Alfred Vargas). Benjie (Richard Gutierrez) on the other hand is a struggling pilot. His girlfriend Tracy (Iya Villania) is a chic pastry chef. With these simple descriptions, I might assume that they come from the middle-class. It is also apparent that their respective partners look pleasing. Of course a few traces of negative traits are inevitable. Who is perfect by the way? But as the film progresses, it seems that Jenny and Benjie are just pissed-off with their partners. I think it has something to do with how the movie must achieve its purpose. But it could have presented it in a manner wherein the story goes just as it is without trying too much. I definitely believe that unhappy states in relationship are not entirely bad. These characters simply lack contentment.

To continue the story, the two lead characters meet in an uncanny situation. Both of them need to attend a wedding party in the island of Palawan. Since Albert and Tracy have common friends, it was requested that Jenny could hitch a ride in Benjie’s cargo plane. Soon enough, the plane had some engine troubles and landed on a remote island near Palawan. As the night sets in, the two started to exchange their ideas on love and Benjie initiated the fatal kiss.

Actually that moment is part of the film’s premise. I don’t want to mislead the audience for what the film has in store. It is a wise decision for the film to show this scenario as a reminder that these two characters are meant for each other no matter what. But if we review their background, which I first mentioned, I bet their acts could have been distasteful to a wider extent. After that kissing incident, they get back to Manila and started to see each other in secret. They did not even bother to break-up with their current partners. And most of the foolish audience gets to scream their hearts out in every love gesture of these two cheaters. And mind you, Jenny is playing it dumb to excuse herself from being guilty of her philandering act. It is a double standard I guess.

I don’t think this relationship would last. Poor audience, they simply get to see themselves in those situations. I mean, come to think of it, I cannot entirely blame the creative team for the tormenting film they have actually made. It is what the audience has wanted in the first place. And the story appears to be just a skeletal framework for all the kilig scenes to push through. But despite the story’s brittleness, it is still the audience I surely blame. Do we seek love simply for our self fulfillment – I think so. I simply see the characters to be selfish in their motives. Love is innocent but definitely not ignorant. Romcom flicks have an established pattern. But this one is such a mess.

When I Met U edifies a selfish pursuit for love. Albert and Tracy might have my sympathy than the other two. Despite their manipulative actions, I think it is just a product of the irrevocable contrivance of the story. But in real life, I think they must qualify to have loved more when they fight for a relationship that is not miserable, but could be realistically defined as plain contentment. I speak only in terms of their stand in the relationship but not on their actual characters. Anyway, audiences are free to feel the magic spark of love. This film has it. But I assure you that magic isn’t real.

Charlie Koon's Rating:

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Critic's Note:

I also noticed that the film looks rushed. It is like the pito-pito kind of film. I pity the film stock used in this film for some reason. The material is expensive and yet it has been used just for a fancy display of love and affection by these two skanky characters. Poor film stock! And the silly dubbing is predominant all throughout the film – I have been particular with this ever since. This supposedly romantic film ruined my special day. The other chick flick Confessions of a Shopaholic did cleanse my system afterwards. Even though it is a Hollywood film (I don’t review foreign films) its pattern of a romcom is much pleasurable.

Panic Mode

I feel like I am.. Choking!!!

Reality is like this, it is either you laugh because you can relate to it or extremely dislike the entire aesthetics of the movie. Status: Single stars none other than the sonsie Rufa Mae Quinto as the thirty-year-old virgin. It gives Quinto a new comic outfit that could defy her trademark style.

The believability of the story does not worry me as I have seen worse situations in real life. Status: Single is a romcom film written and directed by Jose Javier Reyes. The film’s dexterity makes it way to make you laugh for its hyper-realistic circumstances. It is about the life of the vivacious Doris, an ordinary working class girl. One by one, her friends started to get married until she reaches thirty and gets deadlocked on her supposedly abnormal situation. Although she is contented, she has a steady boyfriend for two years, she gets to be pressured by her friends and family into marrying. One day, her boyfriend makes a disclosure to end their relationship. She gets a hold of her reaction for a moment until she gets hysterical.

It is a wise decision for Reyes to make use of comedy in bringing about the dilemma of modern women without being too cumbersome. Comedy is a great proposition to alleviate the stiffness of certain topics. It is safer and it is almost a passage or even the starting point before we delve into deeper implications regarding a woman that is towards infecundity. In modern times, women nearing their late 20’s are prone to delicate pregnancies.

Anyway, these juicy topics are handled with such ease without sounding too artificial in its rendering. An ordinary moviegoer might just laugh without much thought given to it. Although it is marketed as a romantic comedy, there is a familiar blend of the genre we call comedy of humours. The supporting casts in this film gives us a unique overview of characters that has an overriding trait of absurdity in their personalities and conduct. As for the women in the film, it gives us a brief outlook on how each handles love and relationships in their lives. The liberation is a great factor in providing what is best to be done in single-hood catastrophes. Poor Doris, if she only knew what to do. But that is a fact of life. At some point of her hysteria, she becomes fatuous, but there is a rebound from her grubby state.

We can gain knowledge from Doris plight. Even the love she tries to achieve might have led to hollowness but the film has been very blatant about being true to oneself. She is not deaf. Her hunky gay friend has been indiscreet about it. But one thing is for sure, watching this film is not entirely a waste. There are deeper meanings to it. The satiric flavor to it and its realistic undertones gives us an idea that this could be further tackled in future comedies and even in dramas. Interweaving love within the movie is just ample for kilig intentions. There is crisp sound to this film.
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Charlie Koon's Rating: