I Love You, Goodbye

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Towards the end there is a twist which decides who ends up with whom. It is probably intended to be a rather dark twist, but then for some reason the director suddenly opts for convenience. Star Cinema seems to have been using this plot device a lot lately. People might get tired of it. Believe me, there sure are many other ways to **** a character.

Surprisingly decent acting from the cast, even from Kim Chiu. This girl has the looks, but is very skinny. Maybe she should consider fattening herself up a little bit. There is a problem with her as an actress, but more than the acting I think it has something to do with the manner of speaking. When she recites her lines it seems like she is holding something back, as if something is restraining her from speaking naturally. Does it have something to do with her mother tongue? What is her native language, Binisaya?

Gabby has always been a stoic actor (at least ever since he came back), so there is nothing much to expect from him. He is not that bad though, and IMO gives a credible performance. Derek Ramsay, on the other hand, seems to be defying the showbiz convention of being a half foreigner whose definition of acting is equal to well defined biceps or lats. He entered showbiz quite late, and for that it is good that he is often given supporting roles so he could further practice. But I think he is already close to being given lead role status. At least when that time comes he would well be worthy.

Angelica is almost always paired with actors double her age. Perhaps this clearly indicates ABS-CBN's lack of credible leading men below the age of 25. But I guess this works well to her advantage. Somehow it helps her gain more credibility as a leading lady by working with actors who have been in the industry for a long time already. I do not think she will be able to snag that Best Actress award from Sharon Cuneta, but she does show good acting chops here. It is often hard for child actors to transition to adult roles. Most of those who tried ended up getting delegated to supporting roles. With this movie, I think Angelica just did so (transition) successfully. Could not wait for Rubí. I think that is where she would probably get her long awaited break.

Regardless of the MMFF box-office results, this movie could, and would have performed better if shown in any other month. There is just too much drama here, crying and talking, that anyone who has not yet reached adolescence would easily fall asleep. It is not even a romantic comedy. It is certainly not a family movie. And with more than three family-friendly movies in the mix this year, this one would easily suffer at the tills.

The story is simple. What it gives you as an extra, I guess, is the realization that double standards against women is well, still very much evident in society. And in this movie it seems that it is also the women, specially the grandmother and the granddaughter, who are guilty of the crime. If a younger woman ends up with an older man she is either a "gold-digger" or a "cradle-snatcher." If an older woman ends up with a younger man she is called a "cougar." No cougars here though, just crossed my mind. Final verdict: too serious a movie for the MMFF, too much drama for Christmas day.

What I like best about the movie? The title is not just an excuse for easily finding a theme song. Instead, the story stays true to the title.