 |
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
OMG! Did you just watch a Sam Milby movie again?! But, but... I hate Sam Milby! Although, I do love movies. And I guess these days, you can't see one without the other so I'll just have to suck it up (and keep my fingers crossed that he does something bad for publicity and all this hype about him disappears >:) ).
Truth? I didn't want to see this movie. Not only because Sam (mind if I call him Sam?) is in it, but because the poster made it look like it was trying too hard to be one of those Asian romantic comedies, i.e. My Sassy Girl, Windstruck, Love Undercover and the like. I'm not saying we're not Asian and that we shouldn't compete, but I was worried that it might just be a "cheap" imitation of those films (Remember Moments of Love?) and that it would lose its local touch. But apparently I was wrong, because instead of giving the impression that it was copied, I think it exhibited a lot of traits Filipino, especially with regard to the mixing of cultures and influences. I mean, where else can you find an English-speaking Cotabato-bred semi-Mama's boy? Only in 'da Philippines. Right? I just described Sam's character, Kevin, by the way.
Neither he nor Toni Gonzaga (Amor/Moe) look convincing as a cop, but whatever. They're fictitious characters. Anyway, what I loved about this movie is how the love triangle was complex. I mean, all throughout the movie (and until this point in time), I couldn't figure out who the second guy is (by second guy I mean the one who's always there for the girl but is left behind/overshadowed by the first guy, i.e. the "best friend"). It probably starts with Kevin as the one who never gets his chance and is always in the background (pretty refreshing to see Sam in a role where he's not the "popular" one), but then (spoilers from this point -- DON'T READ if you don't want to be spoiled.) by the middle of the movie, he leaves and then you start feeling sorry for Caloy (Zanjoe Marudo), Moe's boyfriend, who's in the picture but is clearly not who the girl wants. Add to that the fact that Moe's actually also been crushing on Kevin since the beginning of the movie--before Caloy showed up, so it sort of makes Caloy seem like a second guy too. Especially when he said that line (his lines are my those that I like best, by the way);
"Minahal ko siya, kahit alam kong hindi siya akin."
Well, it just makes you confused as to who you'd want Moe to end up with.
I actually liked better how Caloy's and Moe's story developed, as oppposed to Moe's and Kevin's -- I mean, they work together. It could very well be just sheer proximity, why they developed feelings for each other, right? So predictable. What's romantic about that? But with Caloy and Moe, they had that conflict in the end where Moe had to choose between her job and her "love", while dealing with her fear of failed relationships... It was a great scene at the end where Moe had her gun aimed at Caloy. I figure, if she really loved him, then she wouldn't have shot him. To hell with the law, love conquers all, right? But she did shoot him, and thereby showed that she still hadn't really loved, at least not with Caloy.
I don't blame Caloy for turning back to crime, though. I mean sure, he can earn money from a decent job, but them illegal stuff just pay way too much more to pass up. Especially when you've got family on the line. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm not saying I agree with him. But I can understand why he would resort to such a thing. Besides, he did try to get better jobs, right? And he did it for Moe too, saying
"Konting-konti na lang, bagay na tayo,"
which is another favorite line of mine, by the way -- I'm a sucker for those I'll-become-a-better-person-so-you'd-deserve-me type of things. Although in the end, I guess it was really Kevin who "deserved" the girl, seeing as he's the one who's "suffered" most for her. Maybe it wasn't shown explicitly in the movie, but we all know that loving someone from afar is torture. And besides, it kind of wasn't fair how he's worked so hard at keeping himself on Moe's good side, and then within a matter of minutes, Caloy just waltzes in and pushes him aside. But in some way, he kind of deserved it for not moving faster. Moe hit the nail right on the head when she told him
"Puro ka plano 'eh. Hindi ka gumawa ng aksyon."
I love how that line is also parallel to Kevin's line of work (he's like head of the "intelligence" unit of the police). And I guess it's also fair that Moe finally gets her "prince". He's the one she really likes after all, despite Caloy's charm.
Anyway, I cried a lot of times during this movie. It's just that, the drama parts were so sad! T_T The action scenes still need a lot of tweaking though. But hey, other than that, it's all good. Lastly, here are more of my favorite bits of dialogue:
(Disclaimer: I'm quoting these (and the ones above) from memory, so there's a good chance they're not 100% accurate.)
"Mahal na mahal kita. Ba't 'di mo payagan ang sarili mong mahalin rin ako?" - Caloy to Moe
"Takot din naman ako 'ah. Pero sinubukan ko. Dahil sa'yo." - Moe to Kevin
Posted at 10:41 am by miriyammqx
|
|
|
