My Big Love, Kite Runner and Daybreak

It's sort of been movie week.

Last Thursday, watched My Big Love with Rhyz, Steph and Chippi. As expected, the movie was oozing with cheesiness and all things romantic. I really enjoy the Sam Milby-Toni Gonzaga tandem. It started with You are the One, and then followed by Close toYou. Now we have My Big Love. Hehe! Not to be disrespectful to the director or the writer, I thought the movie was great but the main reason why anyone would want to see it is for the "Awww...they're in love" angle. As with other romantic movies, the story is kind of formulaic, but you enjoy it because of the feeling it stirs in you. In this case, I really, really enjoyed it because once again, I kind of remembered how crazy love is. Plus, I thought Sam Milby was completely cute. He looked extremely adorable when he was in the 300 lb body suit, he looked extremely adorable when he was his "real" self also. So if you're looking for something a movie that's heavy on love and laughter, go see this.

Friday night, while other people attended the Ayala rally, I took the MRT to Robinson's Galleria to see Daybreak with Carl. What I love about Galleria is that one cinema is dedicated to indie films, and lately they've been showing queer or queer-themed movies. Recently, the feature movie was Selda starring Sid Lucero and Emilio, which I missed and that kind of sucks. So when I read about Daybreak, I dragged Carlo to see it. The other movie I want to see is Lihim ni Antonio, and again I'm planning to get Carlo to see it with me. Hehe!

Alright, let's go to Daybreak. It's Adolf Alix's film and I was curious to see how it would be different from his last film, which also happened to be about two men. Daybreak stars Coco Martin (who has appeared in so many indie films already, and who I think is one good actor) and Paolo Rivero (this is the first time I've seen the guy on the big screen). Unlike male/female love stories, I guess what I love queer movies is that the element of surprise is almost always present. In this case, there are secrets to be revealed, there are conflicts to be resolved. And because the relationship is far from what several people in understand (at least, in this country), the story becomes even more interesting. Surprising as this may seem, I enjoyed the movie. Some would probably say that there was nothing spectacular about the writing, but here's my take on it.

I guess the fact that there were no lines that are worthy of being quoted makes the story more real and closer to the truth. Don't get me wrong, I love movies with good lines (think The Hours), and although Daybreak doesn't have those, what it has are lines that people really use. The dialogue between the characters is as real as it can get. And when you think about it, in our every day lives, how often do "Oscar-winning" lines come out of our mouths? (And not to be a sexist, but since the characters were both somehow "macho" men, I would be surprised if they started saying lines meant for Julia Roberts). So I guess what I felt while watching the movie was it was as if I was watching two friends talking about their relationship. They're just being true, and they're just using the language they know. And that's the reason why I liked Daybreak.

Saturday night, I found myself at Glorietta 4 together with Noreen for The Kite Runner. It was the perfect movie to cap my movie week. The movie based on the novel by was poignant and emotional. I was already intrigued by the movie when I read its synopsis, so I was happy that Noreen invited me to see it. And since it was based on a novel, you can expect several good lines and you can expect a lot of scenes that could move you to tears. The movie is the story of Amir and Hassan and their friendship. 80% of the story happens in Afghanistan, 10% in Pakistan, and 10% in America, so you probably already know that this is not your typical Hollywood movie. The story of the boys are heavily intertwined with the culture and traditions of their native land, and for someone who grew up in a free, (almost) caste-free country, even if it's a Third World country, I can't help but have a mishmash of emotions - happiness, grief, relief, confusion, to name a few.

I highly recommend seeing this movie. And I'm thinking of getting a copy of the novel. As with other novels-turned-movies, I'm guessing that several angles of the story could be found in the book, which would make me enjoy The Kite Runner to the fullest.

Favorite lines are “ There is a way to be good again.” And “For you, a thousand times over.”