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- the movie’s official poster
This one night, I went out with a friend to see what’s on the big screen. At first, we only agreed to have dinner, but I didn’t quite expect that I would be joining my friend in the movies. Good thing I brought enough cash for the dinner and the movie tickets, even though it’s not my habit to spend on such.
Okay, so at first, we have no idea on what movie to watch. But as we go along the line-ups on what are showing, my friend pointed to me the movie that she wants to see. When I figured out what poster she’s pointing at, I took a glimpse and then look the other way. I was looking anywhere except on the poster of that movie that we’re about to see.
I used to be a fan of Filipino movies, especially when my grandparents and my dad were still part of the movie industry that time. However, since they’re no longer part of it, what they can do mostly is to watch and perhaps nothing more but be critics of modern films. Of course, since they were directors during their day, I somehow share their views about today’s movies, mainly in one word – CHEAP.
That being said, I felt awkward that time and my feet were telling me to just turn around and run away. But for the sake of friendship, I stayed and just said that I’m going to be okay and all.
So there we were standing in line to watch the movie entitled “When the Love Is Gone”. We bought the tickets, had our dinner, and then went inside the theater. As we find our seats, I was amazed on how few the people were inside. I could only think of five possible reasons: it was night time, it was raining, pay day has not yet come, the movie is not that interesting to watch, or just too many pirates.
Since there are not much moviegoers that time, we just settled for the back seat (the view is still good at the back anyways). As the movie was playing, my mind was still rejecting the fact that I’m actually inside the movie theater, and watching a pinoy movie that I no longer watch for a very long time. Also, my feet are telling me that’s it’s not yet too late for me to get up, walk out of the theater, and simply run away. The funny part is that my friend noticed how uneasy I was. Actually, I was quite tensed since I haven’t been inside a movie theater for like 10 years, and the last movie I watched that tie was the very first “Mano Po,” starring Kris Aquino, Maricel Soriano, and I forgot the name of the third artist. Nevertheless, I was able to relax and overcome the feeling later during the movie.
The movie is starred mainly by Gabby Concepcion, Cristine Reyes, Alice Dikson, Andi Eigenmann, and Jake Cuenca. Since I’ve seen the movie with a friend, I won’t give much of the story and spoil the movie. What I’m going to share are the core issues and the moral of the story.
All the problems stirred up in the story started from a guy (Cuenca) who turned out to be a homosexual. At first, they were having a good time with his wife (Reyes) almost every night until he was caught cheating, with another guy… on their ANNIVERSARY (Now, tell me that’s not messed up). As a result, their marriage ended up in separation.
On the other side, a family of three can be seen having breakfast together one morning. In fact, they even had to go see some exhibit that night. But since, the missus (Dikson) was all but busy with her small business, family time was put off. But that’s not all. The wife got so busy, they don’t even eat breakfast together anymore. Now, what do you think the husband felt about that? Perhaps, you could guess that he got bored and so he decided to go somewhere off world to unwind… or is it?
Okay, so the husband is at this place along the beach to “relax.” This is where he also met the wife of the homosexual guy I was talking about earlier for the second time (they met for the first time earlier in the movie at an exhibit). And for some reason, both of them have their eyes glued to each other, sparkling and all. You can guess what may happen next. Perhaps both of them are having a good time riding ponies, or exploring caves, or paragliding over some volcano. Whatever they were that they’re doing, it must be one heck of an affair. But wait, it didn’t happened just once.
The two went on “business trips” more often, and yes each trip last for days. However, they didn’t realize that they can be caught one way or another. The worst part of it is that the daughter (Eigenmann) was going to be the one to find out.
Okay, so they got caught having an affair, the missus finally knew about it, and yes, everything was an unmitigated disaster. Daughter begins to go to parties, gets drunk, and good thing is that her “boyfriend” was kind enough not to take advantage of her situation and just bring her home instead. She also began to rebel, as she sensed hypocrisy between her parents. Come to think of it, this part is actually a laugh (my laugh, if you may). I mean, a family guy shared by his own family and his mistress? You’ve got to be kidding me! He has to go home to his family just to make sure that their daughter is dropped off at school and then go back to the other woman afterwards.
The story itself has a lot of twists, encompassing the effects of homosexuality and adultery on marriage and family. The story didn’t end in a “happily-ever-after” manner. However, I did finished the movie and realized that it is somehow an experience worth sharing. After the show, me and my friend went out of the theater, outside the mall, bid each other farewells, and have her board a jeep to her work.
If you’re going to ask if the movie is worth watching, I’d say that the show is not much of a family movie, especially if they have kids aged 17 and below; some of the scenes are kinda pornographic. However, I could say that this is one of the movies that couples can watch, especially if their relationship seems to be in a rocky situation. Perhaps they can learn something from it.
The Letterbomb Chronicles 