brièveté

Close, But Not Quite: A quick rehash of “No Other Woman”

i love watching movies and i’m quite easy to please. :) as long as it’s not a scary film that will stress me out and make me reach for my asthma inhaler, i’d gladly watch any movie! it’s also why i don’t write film review blogposts often: i’m not a movie critic, i just watch them to be entertained.

pero kapag naeentertain ako ng bongga, gaya ng No Other Woman, rumereview ako kunwari. :D haha! :D

oh this movie. how do i begin?

THE GIST: N.O.W. is about Ram Escaler (Derek Ramsay), a furniture designer and dealer, at ang kanyang todo kapogian dahil ang asawa niya ay si Cha Escaler (Cristine Reyes) at ang (hindi-raw-siya) kabit niya ay si Kara Zalderiaga (Anne Curtis). ‘di ba lang? the casting caused quite a stir when talk of making the movie began; namroblema ang mga lalaki. “Oo nga ‘noh? Paano ako pipili kay Anne at Cristine?” (WOPS. kuya, pause muna. kasingpogi ka ba ni Derek? kasi kung hindi, sumakay ka na lang rin sa unicorn habang nag-iisip ka niyang imaginary problem mo.)

the casting was crucial; kailangang gawing bago ang dating ng pelikula sa kabila ng luma nitong kuwento. Anne outshines Cristine in this one, but only because Cristine didn’t have much in the Cha-character to work with. kapag binigyan ka ng direktor ng karayom at sinulid na panggantsilyo, kahit gaano ka pa kaganda, you can only do so much. sayang. Derek was believable in his role, he had to be charming (and ripped) enough to pull off having Diyosa and Eva Fonda in his clutches; but forgivable when time for redemption comes.

THE GOOD: the story pans out like all affairs since the beginning of time: it eventually blows up in everyone’s faces. for plots like this one, it’s the execution that counts. N.O.W. chose the zarzuela-sans-music road: it’s a mix of drama and comedy that kept the audience glued long enough to their seats until the end. dalawang babae, dropping witty one liners after another, instead of the usual sugod-sabunutan-sigawan-walanghumpaynaiyakan formula? benta! the scathing banter between Kara and Cha is something you don’t usually see. it was a series of what the French call l’esprit de l’escalier, or things you wish you said at the right moment… except, in this movie, these two women just went for it. here are some of my favorite lines:

* Coffee Shop:
Cha: You like nice things ano?
*referring to Kara’s purse. that, or her husband’s abs.
Kara: Yeah, They’re my guilty pleasures. Except I really don’t feel guilty ‘coz I deserve them.

* Escaler Kitchen
Kara: Anything I can do to help?
Cha: Naku ‘wag na, baka makita mo pang nilalagyan ko ng lason ‘yung pagkain mo… JOKE LANG! Medyo off ‘yung humor ko lately e.

Carmi Martin as Cha’s mother had scene-stealing lines too like:

Ganyan talaga kapag makating dikya, nagmamarka.
*referring to Ram’s kissmark

my favorite sequence was the Poolside-Escaler Room-Kara Room-Lobby scenes. minus the swimsuit showdown, those 10 or so minutes drove home the entire message of the movie. it doesn’t matter if you put up a good fight: nobody wins in such a situation. everyone ends up bruised and messed up.

i’d say that the cinematography was great too in the sense that everything was aesthetically appealing… pero dahil wala pa naman akong masyadong alam sa cinematography, that’s all. :p hahaha!

THE BAD: maybe it’s just me, but i feel that the movie’s greatest strength is also its biggest pitfall… you find it so funny and entertaining, you forget it’s a drama. you leave the cinema raving about bits and pieces of it, but feel so-so about the diluted whole, especially the not-so-stellar ending.

-SPOILER ALERT!- it was just too easy: Ram gets in a car accident, Kara is racked with guilt because she was the cause, Cha waits and prays ‘til Ram’s recovery, and all is forgiven. oo na oo na hindi easy ang mabangga sa trak at masaksak ng bakal, fine. pero it was such a lousy way to end a very complicated scenario. and the final, all’s-well-that-ends-well-sunday-market-scene? cringe-worthy.

THE UGLY: my biggest gripe about the movie was Ram’s goodbye scene with Kara in her house. at this point, with the accident and their flailing, fragile marriage, he already survived literal and metaphorical near-death experiences. talagang dadayo ka pa uli sa ugat ng lahat? ang sakit sa bangs. it was such an out of place scene in an already weak denouement.

THE VERDICT: N.O.W.’s entertainment value makes this movie float at 6 out of 10 stars for me. (para sa ‘kin lang naman. pwede ka ring gumawa ng stars mo. :) kahit out of 100 pa.) it was a great attempt at putting a spin on the infidelity plot, but it has a “close, but not quite” aftertaste. sa dulo’t dulo, ang masasabi ko lang:

ang haba-haba ng hair mo, Angelica Panganiban. ikaw na.