Is it Cathy Garcia-Molina or Cathy Molina-Garcia?
Such things may seem trivial considering the director in her latest movie Forever and a Day (ABS-CBN/Star Cinema) tries to break the romantic template of mainstream Philippine contemporary cinema, for a change one of the beautiful leads shedding her mortal coil, not that this plot development wasn’t telegraphed in the movie’s first part, though still not enough of a preparation to endure the numbing second part exposition endlessly unto death. Do they part, or don’t they?
There must have been truth to past observations (not least the emotional weather report in a sister page) that modern Pinoy love stories on the big screen are a variation of that Hollywood staple Notting Hill. Yes there’s boy meets girl, get along fine eventually despite minor kinks like divergent class backgrounds or opposing personalities, have a major conflict to sweeten the plot only to be resolved, two or three or even just months later, with the parties reconciling and short of screwing, laughing or kissing merrily into the fast rolling closing credits. It begs the question that if everybody lives happily ever after, what can a poor boy do but play in a rock and roll band? Or in this case, make a movie that departs from the accepted norm.
Streetfighting man lead Sam Milby isn’t, rather an athletic business minded designer of rubber shoes. His counterpart is the almost effervescent KC Concepcion, who as the cancer afflicted lead, has her moments. From doing bucket list things at an extreme sports zone in Cagayan de Oro or is it Bukidnon, to battling the deadly disease that reaps a sea change of emotions from the audience feeling like Pavlov’s dogs.
Perhaps better are the support, since the good-looking leads tend to distract and in the long run cancel each other out in terms of ennui, such as Vivian Velez who has aged gracefully, or Matet de Leon still cute and funny as ever. Not to mention the veterans Dante Rivero and Bembol Roco, who lend much needed gravitas and therefore, ballast to enable this ship of fools to stay the course.
For don’t they look quite like a foolish ensemble for believing in the afterlife, that the lovers or are they will one day be reunited in heaven most presumably, for even if it was hell it would still feel like heaven if they’re together if we be so influenced by the theme song by America or is it Bread, all my life and that sort of thing.
So does the director Cathy succeed in breaking the template? Partly, and only because as mentioned earlier, one of the leads dies. The movie, however, leaves us hoping that there is imminent resolution, and ambient reunion on the other side of tomorrow. Molina-Garcia or Garcia-Molina has her moments, too, as she is not afraid of seemingly dead existential space that in an indie setting would be described as contemplative, but in mainstream is just boring.
Forever and a Day was graded B by the Cinema Evaluation Board.