Movie Review: When Love Begins
When Love Begins
Leads: Anne Curtis and Aga Mulach
Director: Jose Javier Reyes
Producer: Star Cinema
A few reminders:
1. SPOILER ALERT! There, I warned you.
2. Note that what follows are my perceptions. This is my blog after all. Your experience may likely be different from mine and I respect that.
They marketed this movie as a "feel-good" movie but it was anything like that. At the end of the screening I felt robbed of the measly $3 and more importantly, my time. The movie felt more like a showcase of fully made-up actors (and obviously aging ones), their clothes and obvious product endorsements with a marginally decent plot that dared to talk down to its audience.
Setting the stage: The movie was set in Boracay (see my blog's banner) (beach, bars, diners) and Manila (office, home, golf course) during this decade. I’ve a few questions though. Where do you find beach combers without tan lines after a week or so at the beach? It must have been some ultra strength sun block lotion they were using… Where do you find beach combers with full make up and not a hair out of place?
Character development: At first, I thought the character of the lead woman would be the saving grace. For the most part of the film, you could forget the beautiful actress and actually see a typical modern Filipina in Mich. Noteworthy were the quips that Mich delivered in her scenes with Ben when they were discussing the nuances of their pseudo-relationship (although the slight twang in both characters' voices was irritating at times). However, the way Mich acted at the end of the movie was totally out of character. Forget about Ben’s lines. I mean really, you won’t remember any of them.
Mich (Anne Curtis) was an independent-minded tweener who was mature for her age. She was a balikbayan and testing the waters for a life in Manila as an assistant vice president for marketing in their real-estate family business. She met Ben while practicing calisthenics in Boracay. Go figure.
Ben (Aga Mulach) was a lawyer-turned-bum, I mean non-specific (clueless?) environmental NGO advocate, who was too sophomoric for his age. He got disillusioned after winning a case and later finding out some gruesome details so he went into environmental conservation. Either that or he just needed a reason to be bumming in Boracay that much with loads of dough to spare and lots of bodies to watch. What was he, forty? Hello D.O.M.!
The supporting cast was forgettable, save for the performances of Mich’s father (Christopher De Leon) and Ben’s mother (Boots Anson-Roa). There were characters that the movie could do without; case in point, Ben’s nephew who was always eating and didn’t say a word, and the extra friends/relatives/officemates of the leads, for whom support meant going with the flow or giving a couple of one-liners. For instance, for the life of me I can’t remember the assistant's face but i know that there was a character in librarian garb with a nice pair who told Mich that the subdivision's launching event was cancelled.
The scene where Ben’s brother asks him to step out of their mother’s hospital room was weird. I thought they were about to discuss their plans for their mom, but instead they talked about business. Were the brothers really that cold-hearted?
Plot, or the lack of it: The love story goes like this. Boy meets girl in Boracay. Girl leaves boy for work. Boy accidentally bumps into girl in party in Manila. Boy and girl say no to commitment but foster a pseudo relationship. Family drama enters (parents, work). Conflict of family interests keeps boy and girl apart. Girl and boy almost meet each other again. Girl makes a complete 180° seeks out boy. Boy and girl and live happily ever after!?!
The nerd in me got irked with how they poorly they developed the sub-plot on the real-estate case. Mich’s dad was developing a subdivision. When they were about to do some preliminary land readjustments that will affect three barangays, they were met by opposition from one of the barangays and Ben’s environment NGO. Apparently, the development would affect part of the river and a fraction of the forest. The suggestion of an upcoming launch and open house suggested that the company had gotten the necessary permits from the government, which may include an approved environmental compliance certificate. Why the real estate company lost the case was still an enigma.
Cinematography and editing: The beach looks great, we got that. However, there were a tad too many montage scenes and as mentioned earlier, it almost became a string of product placements with one logo showing after the next.
There were some weird shots too. There was a scene where Ben was discussing something with his NGO buddies. Ben says his line and the camera focused on him, but when the rest of the group was talking, their faces were blurred!
The verdict: For a supposedly feel good movie, I felt agitated and disappointed after watching this waste-of-time with big-name billing. Totally forgettable and LUGI!!!
Tapos malaman-laman ko pang ipapalabas nila ‘to sa Seattle? Ewan! Bucket please!
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