Cinemalaya 2011: STAR-CROSSED LOVE Review
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Philippine
cinema has never been one that is deeply related with literature. Except for
adaptations of Jose Rizal's Noli me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Francisco
Baltazar's Florante at Laura, and
other revered texts of national importance, adaptations are mostly limited to
popular comics and romance novels. Perhaps the reason why there is that gaping
separation between cinema and literature in the country is because literature,
except for the texts that are used for school and the comics and romance novels
that are used for escapism, is unprofitable. Consequently, cinema based on
literature is also unprofitable, catering only to the sophisticated and the
learned elite and not to the general movie-going populace.
Ligo na Ü, Lapit na
Me (Star-Crossed Love), based on Eros
Atalia's bestselling short novel of the same title, attempts to close the gap
between literature and cinema. Atalia's novel is by no means the type of
literature that would incite deep thinking or debates. It is populist in both
style and intention making it the perfect text for a film adaptation that would
have a semblance of commercial appeal without being just purely escapist.
Ligo na Ü, Lapit na
Me
was obviously written to appeal to the younger generation, with Intoy (played charmingly
in the film by Edgar Allan Guzman), an ordinary student who enters into a
secret sexual relationship with Jenny (played in the film by Mercedes Cabral),
a transferee from a private school who instantly becomes the school's resident
bombshell, representing the typical Filipino youth who is has become more open
to loose sexual attitudes without losing appreciation for the necessities of a
fulfilling romance.
Jerry
Gracio's screenplay is very faithful to Atalia's novel, appropriating even the
mental monologues of the main character in the novel as voice-overs. Director
Erick Salud is very faithful to Gracio's screenplay, keeping the voice-overs
and the other playful excesses while managing to ably tell the story in the simplest
way possible. In a sense, both Gracio and Salud become victims of undue
reverence to a source material that would probably work film-wise with
modifications in both storytelling and style.
It
is all cute at first. Sex has never been a serious proposition for Filipinos.
Sex has been quite the favorite punchline for skits and jokes. There is
therefore a very wicked sense of accuracy as to how Intoy's sexual awakening is
depicted with cartoonish humor and irreverence. Unfortunately, the film doesn't
know how to grow up. It never graduates from being just an effective sitcom. In
fact, aside from the flourishes that infrequently adorn certain scenes, the
film is mostly visually drab and almost always aurally annoying, like a hurried
locally-produced television show.
