A Love Story

I saw this movie last night on DVD for some reason, I lost tract with the civilization that I don't have an idea that this movie exists nor what it's all about, so I made it a try.

The movie is all about Ian Montes, played by Aga Muhlach, along with all his love interest, Dr. Joanna Villanueva played by Maricel Soriano and the 22 year old flight attendant Karyl played by Angelica Panganiban. Sounds very interesting right? How could you go wrong with the comparison of a 22 year old flight crew with an doctor.

Aga Muchlach, as always, perhaps, the only Filipino actors who proves the Einstein theory that time doesn't exists. He doesn't aged a bit, he can portray any genre or character, he can convince everybody that he is either 25 or 45 and living you without any doubt.

The way the movie goes was very interesting, something that hasn't been done before, its a very new way for the Filipino audience, I'm sure a lot of the movie goer could be confuse for some part cause director Mario J delos Reyes made it in a way that you will hold your seat and wait what gonna happen, so it's kinda tragic and not the usual Filipino movie that you would hope the ending will be.

It is a slow start, I could really tell that hey had difficult time introduced the character, but it went very well, everybody at their age might get relate with them or somehow get the sympathy of the characters cause they portrayed it very well.... and oh yeah it has twist....

In general, I love the movie, I love the story, I love the characters, I totally recommend it to watch it.

August 22nd was the first (and only) time my wife and I could watch this movie because of her hectic work schedule at the local Cable TV company. We watched this movie at SM Megamall in Philippines. Her officemates already watched this movie before her and I watched it, last night.

Normally, I don't have tears during movies because I try to hide my emotions, but this movie had brought back memories for me, considering I've had many sour relationships, but I wasn't a playboy as what Aga Mulach played as Ian Montes. I'm a American Citizen and Filipino Mestiso (my dad was natively born in Philippines) and I (finally) got married to my wife in October 2006. -- Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky as Ian was in the movie.

In many of the scenes, such as when Ian (Aga Mulach) and Karyn (Angelica Panganiban) were arguing after Karyn was at a party with her friends, my wife kept nudging me. Many of the things that Ian had said were, either the same or similar, to what I've said to my wife, but in very different circumstances, but mostly were at the start of my marriage and not currently. Ian said something similar to, "I need my wife... but you're never around." I remember saying that to my wife, more than once. I admit that.

High technology was not in this movie, with the minor exception of mobile phones and text messaging. I didn't see an internet connection, such as internet chat or e-mail being used or emphasized. The movie contained Motorola and Nokia cellphones, but no PDAs (such as Palm Pilots, Blackberries, etc.), as seen in other Love Drama stories.

Angelica Panganiban, acting as Karyn Torres, plays an immature part of the movie. She claims to be 22 years old, and my wife both agree that she is too young to have any real relationships. Her job as a flight attendant signifies that she has not decided what her future is going to be. My wife describes her as "too wild." Her attitude is focused on sex, first, and then relationship, second. -- In the movie, some parts were missing, such as what happened before Karyn and Ian slept together. The plot was missing. It went from meeting for the first time, to sex in bed. And then, meeting in a public place. I wasn't sure what Maryo J. De los Reyes (Director) wanted in Angelica's character. Did she want a prostitute that falls in love, or a desperate woman that does not want to work? I couldn't figure that out.

Maricel Soriano, acting as Joanna Villanueva, was missing through some very important parts of the movie. There was a lot of missing information about her marriage with Peter (Mark Gil). I guess that was Vanessa Valdez's (writer) idea to add suspense in the movie. I kept asking my wife, questions, because there was too much information missing. Even my wife could not figure out the missing parts.

Mark Gil (Peter) is a "person of interest" to me, since he was in "Mula Sa Puso." He doesn't have a Filipino name, yet he is a Filipino TV/Movie star. For some reason, he keeps his identity a secret, even to IMDb. When I seen him in A Love Story, I didn't recognize him, until he spoke. His Tagalog has unusual accents, maybe mixed with non-Filipino dialects. Most Filipinos don't notice that. His part in this movie should have been a lot more than just a few short scenes. From my perspective, he looks like he was just "planted" to fill in the roll of Peter. He was talked during many parts of the movie, but his acting just wasn't there.

Aga Muhlach (Ian Montes) wore a plain Cross neck-less throughout the movie, but there was no Christian/Catholic events in the movie. His character shows that his cross is for show-only, not for any religious conviction. I was expecting Maricel Soriano to have a church scene, such as in "Paraiso: Tatlong kwento ng pag-asa", but I didn't see one in the movie. I'm not sure if this was done to allow persons from all religions to watch the movie or not.

The movie missed adding any Wedding Scenes. In nearly all Filipino love story movies, a wedding scene (with a priest), is part of the movie. The movie emphasized on "anniversaries" but there was little or no emphasis on any actual marriage ceremonies. -- I was looking for this in the movie... Remember the movie and soap opera, Mula Sa Puso? The movie, "A Love Story", brings out the importance of marriage, or at least, a true relationship. The movie could be nicknamed as, "Don't cheat on your spouse or else!" It emphasizes events that really do happen but nobody pays any attention to it.

In case you have not seen this movie, yet. Please do so, as I highly recommend it. Ladies (and some guys, too), please bring tissue or towel, as this movie will make you cry.

Finally, a mainstream Filipino flick that experiments with non-linear storytelling, uses an excellent cast (not reliant on the upcoming star of the moment), and doesn't insult the moviegoers' intelligence with overly explicit explanations.

Direk Maryo J. de los Reyes does an excellent job with A Love Story: the plot is complex enough to hold a more discerning audience's attention. The sound engineering was consistently solid, the wardrobe and make-up were expressive of the characters' personalities, and the acting was mostly spot-on. The cinematography is subtly symbolic, thoughtful and well-motivated. The first establishing shot is a bird's-eye view of the Alabang Town Center fountain, done ala Gaudi with fragmented tile pieces, foreshadowing the movie's theme of broken relationships, and ends with the lead characters walking over a rocky shore.

Ian Montes (played to the hilt by Aga Muhlach) is the classic Pinoy male who feels he's God's gift to women; unlike most men of this strutting ilk, at least he comes equipped with dimples, a well-maintained bod and makes oodles of money. Joanna (sympathetically performed by Maricel Soriano) is the doctor who finds new love in Ian after recuperating from a cheating husband and showers him with attention. Karyn (believably portrayed by Angelica Panganiban) is the stewardess that Ian is drawn to because of her youthful spontaneity. The characters are complex and offer facets the audience can relate to.

Absurdly fascinating yet true is how these independent, strong-willed women are reduced to mindless martyrs whenever the object of their affection throws another testosterone-filled tantrum. What is ridiculous is while both women are shown to have depth beyond their looks (which is supposed to complicate the choice further); there is nothing beyond the superficial that Ian offers other than what is apparently great sex. His father's words of wisdom apparently did not impress upon him: Flowers are like women; do not pick a flower if you will just throw it away. You have to take care of it because there will never be another one like it again. There is nothing more satisfying than right triumphing over wrong, no matter how difficult. Those who indulge in adultery really set themselves up for inevitable pain. This is really a good example of while we all have a choice, it takes two to tango! All in all, a good movie, but if I had to nitpick, I'd change the title (why in English? And why so plain and non-descript?). Some of the supporting cast could've been reconsidered because they were painful to watch (Karyn's bestfriend/fellow stewardess was OA, Karyn's OB-Gyne and her son Jacob were also camera-conscious), some minor technical flaws (what must be a handsfree microphone set is visibly tucked behind Maricel's jeans; the reflection of the hand holding the non-glare shield is visible on the windshield in the scene where Karyn is sitting in her car). Also, cut out the draggy parts and reshoot some of Angelica's speaking lines in English because they distract from the dialogue. And okay, rehashing the Joey Albert song "Tell Me" is cheesy with literal lyrics as a compromise-trademark of Filipino films, which could've been tolerated except whenever it played in the movie and the lady beside me would burst into heartfelt song. Each time!

A Love Story is basically the same old trashy filipino soap style movie being serve by Star Cinema. We can see the usual stuff like heavy on dialog, over the top crying scenes, and all those melodramatic cliché being thrown into the screen. This movie is all about Ian (played by Aga Muhlach, acting cute as always) who have to decide which two chicks his hooking up his going to end up with. Is it the bitch Karyn (Angelica Panganiban) or the mature and caring Joanna (Maricel Soriano)? Basically, its a contest between these two lousy women on who gets the grand prize(Ian the womanizer).

The story was presented in non-linear and boast itself with a plot twist not common to filipino movies. Unfortunately, the direction was gawd awful its messy and confusing. The scene editing was horrible you get lost between transitions to different location and time. All sorts of supporting casts appears right at you.... you just unable to keep up knowing each one of them.

The problem with this movie is that we really don't care about the characters we are seeing. It doesn't show the true values of a filipino. Like Karyn for example, mind you.... a woman who met a guy in the elevator then ends up having sex on the same night will always be a woman of bad reputation in Christian Philippines. Then there's this Ian who broke his leg on a pathetic skiing stunt who cries like a girl eventually going gaga over Laura because she was the one nursing him till he gets well. Its unbelievable..... and when they finally reveal the over hype twist in the story, I'd say oh yeah..... big deal.