SOCIAL MEDIA

Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2020

Ang Henerasyong Sumuko sa Love (2019) - Movie Review

No Copyright Infringement Intended


DISCLAIMER: This review contains spoilers.

The Millenials are the generation known to be smart, intelligent, passionate and extremely driven to achieve their goals. They are also outspoken and fearless to speak up their minds and do what they feel is beneficial to them. Unlike other generations, Millenials encounter struggles in their social lives as they have full control over their decisions. This film features a group of friends that formed during their freshmen days. The film started when they were on an outing after their graduation. They made a promise to visit the same spot every year no matter how busy and occupied they are. Each four stories revolves on how they handle each of their lives, how society and career had an impact on their views about love and relationships

Ma’an is a crush ng bayan type of a girl. Circumstances pushed her to do her own branding hopeful to be an influencer. Many of the youth of today’s generation is a reflection of her where popularity in social media sites struggling to be someone who does her own ways and getting paid by posting in different social media platforms like Youtube and Instagram. The pressure made Ma’an to wear revealing clothes and naughty image just to attract followers much more when she learned that her ex’s girlfriend is a more popular vlogger than she is. While she becomes popular, the more it made her want more just to feed her insecurities.

Denzel is a budding bar owner with charisma. He love casual dating and one night stands. His dates even offer him to be in a relationship but he always denies and ghosts them afterwards. Not until he met a guy whom he will fall for and changed his view about relationship now wanting to have a commitment. Things did not go well because the man he fell for only wants an open relationship with no exclusivity.

Juna Mae and Hadji were both attracted to each other but they decided not to put labels on their relationship because Juna Mae’s father hurt her mother in the past. They both agreed into living together and sleep on the same bed but no commitment, both are good with the setup until one day Hadji exploded realizing that he wants more starting the tension between the couple.

Kurt, the alpha among the group is a workaholic freelancer pressured by his mother to be the breadwinner of the family since his grandfather did the same. He told his mom about his depression just to scold him that his life is good and there is nothing to be depressed of. Whenever he was with his friends, he seems preoccupied thinking about work and does not seem to know their situations. When they had a reunion outing after a year, tensions arise from the group starting with Hadji and Juna Mae then vented out the disappointment to Kurt. They left him in the resort before getting a phone call from Kurt’s mother that they found a suicide note in his bed. Hurriedly, they found they friend in the dark safe then hugged each other.

All these situations reflects the struggles of young adults nowadays. They do not have time to succumb in classic sweet romance as they were busy facing their responsibilities. It must have been better if each stories were expanded for us to be more sympathetic of the way they behave. A runtime of 120 minutes may not be enough. There are a lot of possible queries a viewer may ask like “What would Kurt’s mother tell him after he comes home from the outing?” Will Juna Mae and Hadji decide for a commitment after they reconcile?” The actors exhibited good acting skills, no doubt. Something in the plot is lacking that makes the viewers wish to have more from the characters.  This movie lacks depth although the concept is relevant in today’s society.

TITLE: Ang Henerasyong Sumuko sa Love

MAIN CAST:

Tony Labrusca as Kurt

Jane Oineza as Ma’an

Albie Casiṅo as Hadj

Myrtle Sarrosa as Juna Mae

Jerome Ponce as Denzel

 

DIRECTOR: Jason Paul Laxamana

WRITER: Jason Paul Laxamana

GENRE: Coming of Age, Romance, Drama, Friendship

PRODUCED UNDER: Regal Films, Largavista Entertainment

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2019

MY RATING: 3/5



Tuesday, March 03, 2015

[Movies] Rome and Juliet (2006) Review

[No Copyright Infringement Intended]

Love is mysterious and we will never going to predict when will it would strike us and who one lucky person who with make us fall, one person whom our souls were in perfect conjugation with. In this country of conservative values and religious culture, are we Filipinos now ready to revolutionize the modern societal point of view of the kind of love between same gender persons who are struggling just to be accepted and love freely without contempt?

Released as an independent film under Cinema One Originals, written and directed by Connie Macatuno, this motion picture have all the sincerity to touch, teach and reach our hearts by a love story between two women with different lifestyle and environment; how they faced the consequences that nearly crashed some important aspects of their live and the people around them. To accept it or not, our country is still not in wide open hands to embrace these kind of relationships mainly because of our deep religious influences throughout the centuries. This is reality and as it happens, same sex love may be viewed by some as queer but its presence in our modern world should not be disrespected nor be condemned. This film is a brave effort to show us Filipinos that these situations exist not just in other countries but in our own. There has been a thirst for the Pinoy LGBT community for this expression through the arts and media to make us understand how they feel and their struggles being a part of it.


Rome and Juliet exchanging cozy talks.

For the two main characters, we see the two women in opposite dimensions of the universe. They found a soulful connection they have never experienced with anyone before resulting in mixed emotions of falling in love and identity crisis. Juliet (Andrea del Rosario) is a simple and sweet gal who is in a relationship with Marc (Rafael Rosell), a domineering, respectable but loving man who proposed marriage in the midst of crisis undergoing in her family. Her longing for that feeling of security praying to find her soulmate, the one she would be spending her life forever. After his marriage proposal, she then thought it was really him that she prayed for. As the story progresses, conflicts started to arise in their relationship like their difference of social class and her inhibitions about his dominance regarding her hairstyle preferences and choices of not having a child for the mean time. Every time Juliet reads her diary is like cradling the viewer’s soul. Hearing those words is like a song taking us into the deepest part of her heart. Great script!


The first time Juliet read a poem from her diary.

On the other hand, Rome is a liberated soul, an entrepreneur who lives in sophistication, brave independent principles and physical pleasures. Behind those sturdiness hides a lonely and broken heart as from surviving a heartbreak involving her ex-fiancée. The world changed when they met. Someone referred Rome to be Juliet’s wedding planner and as the two ladies became friends, they soon developed a kind of deep connection that gave them comfort and happiness whenever they were in the company of each other.


When Juliet became jealous of Rome's ex-fiancee.

If you guys were an avid lesbian movies enthusiast, you will notice that there was a huge resemblance to the movies “Imagine Me and You (2005)” and “I can’t think Straight (2008)”. I wonder what is with bride-to-be-Women that lesbian films were focused on those scenarios. In my point of view, these kind of situations requires important choices by choosing if you will stand up for what you really are or just keep quiet and go with the flow of what people view as normal and accepted, to fight for things or someone that you know would make your life complete and happy overcoming those clashing anxieties and emotional turmoil to be free.

One of the important parts of the movie was that love scene. It happened on the night that they were both vulnerable; there was intense passion as they kissed and touched each other. Could it happen in real life? I say yes. After that night, situations and the people around them went into chaos. The church scene where they talked and confessed what they feel for each other really touched the empathy in me, melancholic yet romantic. Juliet stated choosing to marry Marc because it was the acceptable in the eyes of people although Rome was telling her of wanting to spend life with her. That talk never really ended it all. Now sure of what she feels and a desire to win Juliet, Rome made an effort to stand in front of others and expresses her love for her by an endearing speech, they kissed. When Marc caught them in an intimate scenario in Rome’s place, things got harder for Juliet and she still told him that she wants to marry him.

To avoid so many spoilers, let us just continue with the review. The ending is good and for me it did not disappoint and was fully justified, though you have to watch the ending credits too because there is a scene found in the middle (the most important one). The production and the creative team should be really commended for pursuing this project. The two actresses really nailed it. Mylene exhibited so much sensuality in her scenes from the way she smiled to that scene where she was in the poetry session reciting her love while Andrea, setting aside her sexy image as an actress portrayed Juliet with justice and her simple plainness of her visage in the film added more appeal especially whenever she reads the poems and the endearing script with the capability to reach the viewers’ heart and soul. No wonder why they earned awards and nominations.

Also, I have seen a lot of symbolism that made this indie flick so sensible. From Juliet’s diary, symbolic of her deep thoughts, desires and emotional struggles, her deep soul searching of what she really wants to find. Second are the flowers. In one of the first scenes, Rome said that those could make a woman smile the reason it could evoke emotions, to heal and to feel love. We would also see a lot of flowers in some scenes like that moment Marc proposed giving them together with a ring. Third is Juliet’s hair, her fiancée’s dominance was shown whenever he commands her to tie it while deep inside it was against her will. The beaded bracelet symbolizes of Juliet’s growing love.

This film was shown nine years ago and I don’t mind how late it is to give a movie review now. Overall, the movie is great in all its elements. As one of the breakthrough lesbian films in the Philippines, I recommend this to the LGBT community and to those straight people who want to understand this kind of love, the people who by chance have this situation to face and be accepted as same human beings who have the right to feel and express love the way they want to. -faf

MAIN CAST:

Mylene Dizon as Rome
Andrea Del Rosario as Juliet
Rafael Rosell as Marc
Tessie Tomas as Charo
Glydel Mercado as Lia

DIRECTOR: Connie Macatuno

WRITERS: Connie Macatuno, Chris Violago

PRODUCED UNDER: Cinema One Originals

NOTABLE AWARDS:

[Winner] Best Actress: Mylene Dizon (Cinema One Originals Film Festival 2006)

[Winner] Best Production Design (Cinema One Originals Film Festival 2006)

[WINNER] Best Screenplay (Gawad Urian Awards 2007)

[WINNER] Best Supporting Actor: Rafael Rosell (Gawad Urian Awards 2007)

MY RATING: 4/5