Racing against time

Jose Javier Reyes is always at his best — at times even at his greatest — tackling contemporary issues on the big screen.

In Status: Single, he takes on the problem of 30ish women racing against time — those who have yet to say “I do.” I can imagine the female population of previous generations also starting to panic as soon as they hit their late 20s and are still unwed. After that they get labeled as spinsters. Wasn’t that the destiny of the Olivia de Havilland character in The Heiress — adapted from the classic play Washington Square and also made into a local film, Carlos Siguion-Reyna’s Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal with Maricel Soriano in the lead?

But back then, women on the road to spinsterhood must have just embraced their fate quietly. Some did resort to drastic measures though, which was why there were shotgun marriages — or pikot in the vernacular.

Today, how to catch your man, especially when it is already panic time, is one topic that is openly discussed by women even with men over light beer or Starbucks coffee.

Since this is one topic talked about by today’s young professionals, Joey Reyes has a tight grip on Status: Single, which he writes and directs for Viva Films (with Rufa Mae Quinto — so I hear — also pumping in her own money).

In this comedy film, Rufa Mae is an office girl who is 30 years old and has yet to get married. She has a boyfriend (Mark Bautista), all right, but he is the family’s breadwinner and cannot commit to her yet — at least, not until the youngest sibling is done with his studies and he is just in third grade.

She dates other men after that — Rafael Rosell and Alfred Vargas who both turn out to be heels — but seems to find luck in Jon Avila, the company owner’s emotionally-battered son. The problem is, she plays hard to get and that derails the romance — endangering her chances of finally getting hitched.

Status: Single must be the most lightweight of all Jose Javier Reyes’ film projects (the recent Metro Manila Filmfest entry One Night Only had a more complicated script). But this doesn’t necessarily mean it is any less fun to watch. It is very entertaining, funny and — like any other Joey Reyes movie — never sloppy.

He even bothers to point out in one scene why a woman as shapely as Rufa Mae has difficulty finding a man to marry her: It’s because she has the body of a sexy star, but has the values of a nun and that confuses the men — or something like that. You have to give it to Joey Reyes for always being thorough with his works and Status: Single is one fine example.

Also ever present in his films are crisp, humorous dialogues used in every day conversations and these are efficiently delivered by most of his actors. Lead star Rufa Mae gives all her energy to this film and at times even tries too hard. But no worries, she is backed up by a plethora of some of the most reliable performers in the acting profession today. Topping the list is Mylene Dizon, Rufa Mae’s friend, who marries a Chinese businessman she bullies around (I like that little touch where the Chinese, George Lim, even uses an abacus to compute his day’s earnings). Mylene’s delivery of the signature Joey Reyes dialogues is wickedly funny.

Then there’s Paolo Contis, as Rufa Mae’s gay office co-worker, who livens up every scene he’s in. There’s not one boring moment with Contis in it.

Even the men do well: Rafael, already an Urian winner (for Rome & Juliet), is effective as the balikbayan bartender who only wants fun. Jon, again, if only he could correct his delivery of Filipino lines, isn’t so bad either. Mark is funny and comfortable in his role as the call center agent who — after office hours — is back to his Visayan accent. Unfortunately for Alfred, he isn’t given a lot to do in this film because he had always been a good actor and could have contributed a lot more.

The two other female barkadas, Angelu de Leon and LJ Moreno, also deliver fine performances in their respective moments in the film.

My only beef against Status: Single is that it makes it appear like being single is like a curse that should be avoided by all women. Of course, Joey Reyes again so dutifully mentions in the film the biological problems and risks of being single — ovarian cancer, etc. But don’t we see a lot of happy and fulfilled single ladies out there way past marrying age? These days, in fact, I hardly hear anyone using the cruel term old maid anymore. Oh, this would require a lengthy discussion and watching Status: Single could be a jump-start to that long discourse.