I checked some stores and found out it’s out on DVD so I saved some time to watch it. Upon finishing this movie just the other night, 2 familiar movies came to mind. One was “Misis Mo, Misis Ko” starring Edu Manzano, Dina Bonnevie, Ricky Davao and Jackie Lou Blanco. The other movie was fairly recent – “Torotot” directed by Maryo J delos Reyes starring Maui Taylor, Baron Geisler, Yul Servo and Precious Adona. It dealt about adultery although the plot was similar to the first while the narration was similar to the second flick. Still the execution was slick and I found myself enjoying it.
What initially was just a night out to forget the domestic troubles and find comfort in each other as friends, ended up in a “nightcap” that both married people got into. Easy to blame it on the alcohol but then again, if Bullet (played by Jake Cuenca) and Giselle (played by Lovi Poe) didn’t even bother thinking how a bottle of Scotch whiskey can go a long way, then there wouldn’t be a conflict to resolve in this movie. On how their respective spouses found out, you can blame it on the customer service of the personnel who called Bullet’s phone while it’s in the possession of his wife, Jasmine (Carla Abellana). Confrontation occurs at a party and Giselle’s husband, Aaron, eventually punished his wife by giving her a curfew. Other than the curfew, he’s just mean to her. It may not be physical but psychological torture still hurt. As for Jasmine, she simply gave Bullet the cold treatment. It has reached a point that she’s too angry to even add up to whatever she has said in the past to her philandering husband.
The moment the words “1 year later” showed onscreen to explain how long had the “punishments” have been going on, you see the twist coming. And you see in a twist that gives you more than ample time to pray, “Please no. This isn’t right. It is just too much.” I myself was praying the whole time that the spouses who got cheated on would give their cheating spouses a dose of their own medicine because it would only worsen things. I was given time to pray but …. ugh!
It is the kind of intensity I don’t feel that often while watching movies. You know something bad is about to happen like an escalation of cheating tendencies just because the people involved can’t bottle up the heat any longer. And it happens because there is opportunity to do it, they enjoyed each other’s company, they gave the enjoyment in each other’s company an erotic definition and you have a recipe bound for domestic wreckage. I even felt guilty when I felt hot at the sight of how Aaron and Jasmine consumed the fire that engulfed them separately in their trysts. While Jasmine’s face is transparent enough to know that this is wrong, she’s helpless at the persistence of Aaron.
“Congratulations! You’re now a certified homewrecker.” That was my favorite line in the movie. I don’t pay much attention to the lines that much although the writer/director Jun Lana was wise enough to use just realistic everyday bourgeoisie language since this is a movie that was loosely based on some socialites whose friendship were wrecked when even spouses got close as well … too close for comfort as you would realize later on. And bourgeoisie language in the Philippines is mostly basic English spoken with flair and sophistication without having to be cross-breeds of foreign blood. The best English lines from this film are from Dimples Romana (who played the character who uttered said line) and from Carla Abellana which is proof of how classy she really is just like how she is often portrayed in press releases.
The acting is also good, not over-the-top-melodramatic type of acting that we’re so used to seeing in soaps but your typical adult drama movie that was executed well. While it was marketed as adult-drama, they did the right thing though of keeping some skin since we know who’s pumping who and on what surface are they “doing” it. No frontal nudity but still erotic enough to sense the hormones throbbing across the screen and captivate whoever watches the sex scenes in a sinful way. That’s when it becomes relatable – you know it’s wrong but you can’t look away at what’s happening.
Dennis Trillo’s acting is also worth-noting since it’s not enough to judge his character Aaron as a douchebag. He’s not simply a douchebag to almost everyone in this movie including to Jasmine’s son, Tommy. Aaron never revealed his motives behind the acts he got into. Sure it’s easy to presume that he just felt sorry for Jasmine that even if she lost respect for her husband, she still endured the choice of staying with Bullet despite the lack of guarantee that he will be a loyal husband. But the intimacy that he fostered with her was the opening he could have been waiting for to avenge his pride that Giselle shattered. He was never the same again after discovering the adultery.
The couple Aaron and Giselle is painful to watch – they’re like “Love the Way You Lie” without the burning house. They love each other but they often accuse one another of being dumb. Just when you thought Giselle and Bullet deserved each other because they’re the “defective halves” in their respective marriages, Giselle received a worse punishment by losing her self-respect to the verbal and psychological torture that Aaron inflicted on her. Later on, both couples are painful to watch because while there is no doubt that love still existed, respect doesn’t exist anymore. Like how can you love someone you don’t respect? They can’t cancel each other out and not feel pain for the spouses.
Love is blind. Marriage opens your eyes. And staying married is often a choice, not a punishment as some folks joked about.
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