Not the ending but the getting there

Most romance stories on film follow only one plotline: Boy and girl antagonize each other, become enemies, but eventually they fall in love – until a conflict between them crops up in the end and they separate and boy or girl decides to leave for abroad. But wait – not before boy or girl drives through traffic and stops the beloved from leaving the country.

Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion went through this phase. And so did Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin recently.

In the Toni Gonzaga-Sam Milby film You Are The One, the same formula is also used, but despite its triteness, I have to say that I still enjoyed watching the movie because there’s a lot of creativity used here and there to make it entertaining.

You Are The One is directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. I still remember this lady director’s first work – an episode in the 2004 Star Cinema trilogy Bcuz of U that features Sandara Park and Hero Angeles.

That was impressive work especially for a directorial debut. Molina drew the best out of Park and Angeles and that one episode, in fact, could have been expanded into a full-length film.

Of course, that Bcuz of U episode still followed the tried-and-tested pattern of boy and girl quarreling in the beginning, falling in love eventually and there’s a threat of separation in the end. But the one thing I can say about Molina’s work is that she fills up the film with little subplots to make the formula more appealing to viewers who are sick and tired of the same storyline.

In other words, with Molina, you already know how the film will run – and end. But along the way, there will be little surprises to delight you – and she’s very good at that. (But promise me, direk, that you’ll also experiment and be more daring with your themes in your future projects.)

In You Are The One, Sam Milby plays a vice- consul at the US Embassy in Manila and he denies Toni Gonzaga a visa. Gonzaga swears she’ll get even and gets her chance right the next day when Milby tries to get a birth certificate at the National Statistics Office, where Toni works as a clerk and she gives him a really difficult time. They fight, but eventually fall in love (how did you guess?) and there is a conflict (which I won’t tell you) between them. In the end, Toni decides to leave for the US (she gets a visa – finally) and Sam tries to stop her. I won’t tell you anymore if he catches up with her. Suspense. Ha-ha-ha!

The problem with this usual formula about the other party leaving for abroad is that it is no longer as romantic compared to the time of Gabby and Sharon when e-mail was unheard of. Now, you can even see each other even if you are 10,000 miles apart and you can blame technology for lessening the romance factor in this old plotline in love stories on film. So it’s about time a new storyline is invented in romance movies for heaven’s sake!

In the case of the Sam Milby-Toni Gonzaga characters in You Are The One, you are not even worried that the young couple won’t see each other anymore because he works for the US Embassy and can fly to America any minute and follow his ladylove in any part of the United States.

Fortunately, it’s not the ending that matters in You Are The One, but the journey. It’s the getting there that’s exciting and we have to give credit to the lead stars for giving their best to this film.

In the case of Sam Milby, you may ask if he can be the next Piolo Pascual. The answer is yes – but only if he learns to really speak our language fluently. Although he has difficulty speaking Tagalog, you can tell that he has depth and that he has acting potentials waiting to be tapped.

Toni Gonzaga’s talent was honed on TV, but she does well on the big screen and succeeds because she is willing to do anything that is asked of her, except for one thing – which, again, I won’t tell you. (You’ll notice this in the end.) But I assure you that you’ll respect her more for this because it’s obviously in line with upholding her principles.

You Are The One opened in theaters yesterday and so far I can guarantee you that it’s light decent entertainment that you want, this film is definitely the one for you.