Interesting details & positive values

I am not familiar with any of the ABS-CBN soap operas done by John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. No, it’s not because they come from a rival station. It’s just that I have long vowed not to be a slave anymore to any soap opera, which tends to run your life and schedule.

However, I have seen all of the films (all under Star Cinema) of John Lloyd and Bea as a tandem (Now That I Have You) and with other people (John Lloyd with Aga Muhlach and Claudine Barretto in Dubai and Bea with Piolo Pascual in Dream Boy) and I have to say that I have always been deeply impressed with the acting talents of these two young stars.

In Close To You, they are back as a loveteam and to add something new, Star Cinema throws in Sam Milby (of Pinoy Big Brother fame) as a third party and now they are a love triangle.

In the story (by Mel del Rosario), this triangle among them is actually formed way back during childhood – when they were in the grades. John Lloyd and Bea had always been close friends since they were kids, but Sam enters the picture when he rescues Bea from a gang of nasty schoolmates bullying the young girl for being fat. She had fallen head over heels in love with Sam since then – except that he had moved abroad after that.

Now that they are grown-ups, John Lloyd and Bea had stuck it out with each other as the best of friends. Bea, however, is still crazy over Sam, who has become the lead vocalist of a very famous boy band based abroad. When the band comes to the Philippines, Bea follows him all over the country (Davao, Dumaguete, Bohol) and even in Singapore until she and Sam reconnect – and fall in love. What then happens to John Lloyd, who had always been in love with Bea?

Now, that is already the biggest conflict of this movie.

You may ask: What kind of a story is this? Well, Close to You doesn’t pretend to be anything. It is really like an overblown MTV promoting a toothpaste brand (Close-Up in this case). In fact, a showbiz insider told me that Unilever is a co-producer in this movie.

But you have to give it to the film for being a hundred percent entertaining – without a dull moment in it. It’s a feel good movie to the max. There are no villains. The parents of Bea (Melanie Marquez and Buboy Garrovillo – isn’t that a cute pairing?) are both loving and supportive. Her would-be mother-in-law (Tetchie Agbayani) is kind and sweet (no Etang Discher!). She has no problem with money because they have a flourishing flower business. So what is her problem in life? Choosing between John Lloyd Cruz and Sam Milby! Some nasty girls in the audience may want to pull Bea’s hair at this point out of sheer envy, but that is the lead heroine’s only problem in the film – and she cries buckets of tears over that.

But then again, you cannot fault Close to You for not being entertaining. For this, I give a lot of credit to young director Cathy Garcia-Molina. In late 2004, I was already impressed with Molina’s early work – an episode (that one with Hero Angeles and Sandara Park) of Bcuz of U. Even then, I already appreciated the fact that Molina knew how to tell a story – and how great she is at details.

In Close to You, it’s the little details that keep the viewer interested from beginning to end. This more than makes up for the film’s story. Those details also keep the audience in stitches – like Nova Villa (playing love adviser to John Lloyd) getting a full spa treatment done in a cute and comic way or Bea manipulating situations to be near her dear Sam, except that all these maneuverings boomerang on her eventually.

And then I also like the positive values imparted by the film to its basically young target audience. In spite of Buboy and Melanie’s being so understanding as parents, for instance, they also know where to draw the line and this should teach young audiences basic responsibilities as kids. I also appreciate how John Lloyd respects an older person – in this case Nova Villa, a new acquaintance he meets only in the plane. All these little things put together make Close to You a very interesting film.

Of course, Close to You is not the film that will save the local movie industry from its dying state. But it’s the type of viewing fare that may bring back audiences to cinemas. If only we can produce more films like this – and throw in a little bit more of social relevance – then we’re close to getting there.