A cinematic fix for the hopelessly romantic

THE ancient Greeks have a term for it—catharsis. This means the purgation of toxic feelings that we keep in our minds and hearts, so that when we see a play—or in this case a movie—we get the benefit of flushing out our pent-up emotions by crying, laughing, and/or shouting with the characters. After leaving the cinema, we feel lighter and ready to face the cruel world again. This is what happened to me when I watched the movie Forever and a Day (Star Cinema, 2011) directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina, and starring KC Concepcion and Sam Milby. It was the middle of the week, and classes had just opened. I’m a teacher, and the opening of classes is always stressful because of all the meetings and preparations -- syllabi, hand-outs, cleaning your carrel in the faculty room, re-studying your wardrobe, and worrying about your hair etc -- you have to attend to before actually meeting your new students. And so I decided to watch the movie before going home. I know that Garcia-Molina is a good director; I like her romantic comedy films starring Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz. They may not be masterpieces, but her films are entertaining enough and not irritating. Many of the so-called blockbuster directors today cannot tell a story properly using the medium of film. My problem with Forever and a Day is the lack of originality. The plot is recycled—love at first sight between a man who is a failure in his beloved career and a young woman who is about to die because of cancer. Remember the Hollywood flick A Walk To Remember? Milby’s character is a shoe designer. There is another Hollywood movie about a shoe designer whose latest work did not sell so he was sacked from his job. The story is really a combination of unimaginative Hollywood movies, so I’m wondering why credit was still given to story writer Melissa Mae Chua. Of course, the story is very predictable. The two lead characters meet in a mountain resort in Bukidnon and instantly fall in love with each other. This part has the texture of the Pilipinas Kay Ganda audio-visual presentation of the Department of Tourism, but I won’t complain because the place is beautiful—the pine trees, the fog, the flowers, the river, and the Tinago Falls of Iligan City. Back in Manila, they continue their love affair with not much conflict; the cancer and the job are just silent antagonists. The screenplay is as problematic as the story. The beginning was so boring I almost regretted watching the movie. The exposition about Eugene’s (Milby’s character) sorry life is too long. I suggest Chua and Carmi Raymundo (who collaborated in writing the screenplay) get a crash course on the classical 3-act structure discussed by Aristotle in Poetics. Or at least watch all the James Bond movies and learn a thing or two about Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2. The movie is also full of cardboard characters, which were regrettably played by veteran actors like Spanky Manikan and Bembol Roco. Matet de Leon and Lui Villaruz played Milby’s best friends and they exist in the movie just to cheer up Milby and KC. What a wonderful and irritating world the movie has created! Heartwarming and alarming Studying the romantic mode of Philippine popular literature like the komiks and the romance novels, critic Soledad Reyes noticed that, “by creating an ideal world, the romance subverted the reality it could not reflect, For example, woman was given a more privileged position in love and marriage; in real life she was an object to be sold for a price." In the movie, Raffy (KC’s character) refuses to undergo her third chemotherapy even though her parents can very much afford it. It’s not clear what they do but one thing is sure: they are very rich. The movie paints an ideal world -- that money will not be a problem when get one gets hospitalized. Is this for real in a Philippine setting? Yes, maybe for about 10% of the population. But it is a fact that majority of the population, when they get sick, they just die because PhilHealth insurance is never enough even if they are lucky to have one. I could not help but notice the face of Milby in the movie: something is wrong with his nose when the camera is focused on him. I saw him singing live before and he is really handsome. Maybe he is just not photogenic, or maybe KC is just too beautiful and that’s why Sam Milby looks ordinary in many scenes with her. On a personal note, watching KC and crying with her character inside the cinema was both heartwarming and alarming. I’m a certified Sharonian; just show me a 30-second footage from any Sharon Cuneta movie and I will tell you the title, the synopsis, recite some lines, and sing its theme song. I just realized that when I was young and foolish, Sharon made me cry. Today, it is her daughter that is making me cry. This is heartwarming because no matter what other people say about KC, I love her like a pamangkin. That is why I was so critical of her earlier badly made movies like a displeased aunt. But now, with Forever and a Day, I’m proud of her. The girl can really act. She is really her mother’s daughter. But I am also alarmed because KC has now bloomed into a beautiful woman and this only means one thing as far as my insignificant life is concerned—I’m getting old! I’m praying and wishing that her next movie will be better. That she will be wiser in choosing her film projects (and of course, her director). Why not a romantic film with Piolo Pascual, to be directed again by Garcia-Molina? Or a comedy with Wenn Deramas? Never mind the nasty rumors about their relationship, or non-relationship, but KC and Piolo do make a perfect couple on screen—two physically beautiful and talented people. Now I’m really sounding like an ageing Sharonian, still foolish and forever a hopeless romantic. – YA, GMA News J.I.E. TEODORO is an assistant professor of Filipino at Miriam College. He has won several Palanca awards for his works and a National Book Award for creative nonfiction from the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from De La Salle University-Manila where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Literature.