‘Open Endings’
Gen Z lesbians Charlie (Janella Salvador), Hannah (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), Mihan (Leanne Mamonong) and Kit (Klea Pineda) had been lovers with each of the others in the past. While they were technically were all exes of each other, yet they remained very close friends. One day, Hannah announced her engagement to her client Matteo (Migs Almendras). She didn't think that her upcoming wedding would triggered a sense of regret in one of the girls.
The cast was led two mainstream movie stars, Janella Salvador and Jasmine Curtis-Smith. They are already well-known quantities as actresses and they delivered on their portrayal of their respective characters as expected. Salvador's Charlie was a "real talk" type of friend, the talkative one, the active one. Curtis-Smiths's Hannah was the beauty of the group, both of face and of heart, so she was the easiest one to love among the four.
This is Klea Pineda's first major film role, as she had mostly been acting on TV since winning "StarStruck" in 2015. A lesbian in real life, Pineda was striking with her morena beauty and her height. However, Kit's current relations within their friend group had been purely platonic. To lengthen her screen time, Pineda's Kit was a pre-school teacher who had a clandestine affair with Alexa (Yesh Burce), the mother of one of her students.
The major spotlight was shone on lesbian musician Leanne Mamonong on her promising feature film debut. Her Mihan stood out because she was the only one of the four who wore a suit and pants when they tried out their wedding outfits. She had a mother Rina (Jackie Lou Blanco) who fully supported her. It was Mihan's emotional journey which was tracked most fully in this story, and Mamonong's sincere portrayal made us root her on.
With the big name stars and the lush cinematography, this Nigel Santos film was a very mainstream type, than a typical "Cinemalaya" indie. While there have been a number of GL films before, this was probably the only one where the four main lesbian characters all were ex-lovers. This gave this film a unique psychological milieu upon which the story of these friends revolved. Writer Keavy Vicente's ending was just as the title said it was going to be -- I wish it wasn't.
‘Child No. 82’
Max Garcia (JM Ibarra) is a 17-year-old high school student from Pinili, Ilocos Norte who lived with his mother Alicia (Rochelle Pangilinan-Solinap). He was a very active content creator on the PokPok app, where he posts live streams of himself as @BabyKana2dMax. He believes he is the son of superstar fantasy action actor Maximo Maniego (Vhong Navarro), best known for playing the superhero Boy Kana in a series of films.
When his girlfriend Marie May (Zairene Fernandez) suddenly dropped a bombshell on him, Max rode a bus to Manila to seek his father out, wanting to learn important life lessons which only a father can give. His quest did not go exactly as he was planning. However, he did discover new things about his parents, just in time to make an important decision between accepting responsibility or achieving a lifelong dream.
This film directed and co-written by Tim Rone Villanueva (his feature film debut!), was really light-hearted, fun and funny. There were clips of old Boy Kana films complete with glaring color quality and primitive special effects. There was also a great scene of Max breaking into his father's mansion depicted as a video game. Highlighting Pinili's cherished heritage cottage industry of weaving Inabel cloth was a very good touch.
This is the big screen debut of 2024 "Pinoy Big Brother "housemate JM Ibarra, and he goes straight to playing the lead role here. Good-looking and charismatic, Ibarra knew how to tickle the fancy of his female fans, yet he was also able to deliver the goods in the dramatic parts of the film. It was not clear though why he only saw his mother as his basher when she had obviously dedicated her whole life to raising him, yet he yearned for an absent father.
I only knew Rochelle Pangilinan-Solinap as one of the Sex Bomb Girls 20 years ago, and now here she is playing a mother to a teenager. She mostly played it serious here, and she did well as the emotional support of her son as he came of age. Playing a smaller yet marked role as Boy Kana's fan club leader Mother Betty is Irma Adlawan, particularly in that one delightful scene she had reminiscing with Max and Alice -- my most LOL scene of the whole film.
This review was originally published in the author's blog, “Fred Said.”