The title, "A Very Special Love," is already an indicator of how much gummy lactose this movie has. The cheese in this movie overwhelms the viewer form beginning to end, and the cheese is of the generic sort. It would have been better if it was gourmet cheese; still cheesy but at least there’s a little kick of flavor in the end.
The curd of the plot is the best example of how generically cheesy the movie is. The off-the shelf elements are as follows: (1) He is heaven she is earth, they can never be together . . . that is until they reach the horizon (Some poetic cheese for your enjoyment! God, it’s contagious!); (2) hate-love-hate-love, and (3) "you complete me" scenarios.
The movie also pays homage to imported formaggi. Puking on someone in an overly long nursing scene reminiscent of Korean cheese is one of these tributes. The work environment at Flippage, a magazine publication office, is a bow to Hollywood cheddar, although the American kind is of higher quality. The tribute would have been complete if the costume designer exchanged devilish Miggy’s Calvin Klein for Prada.
It’s not all that bad though. Laida’s daydreaming in the meeting is the right kind of funny, nothing forced and over-extended. But the subplot involving Miggy’s desire for legitimacy is engaging and more resonant than the flippant romance of the main plotline. It would have been better if the movie focused on this rather than the farcical love story. But then, there would be nothing to justify the song lyric title.
Performance-wise, most of the cast churn out ordinary performances of stereotyped characters. What is worth watching though, is Dante Rivero’s subdued performance of a father torn between pleasing his legitimate children and giving his love-child the affection and love he deserves. Sarah Geronimo is more of a comic relief than a romantic lead and towards the end it becomes tiresome. As for John Lloyd Cruz, well . . . he knows how to make his tears roll down his face and it seems that it’s one of the highlights of the movie, with the close-up and relatively long-take for maximum emphasis.
The movie, overall, has more cheese than the dairy section of your local grocery store. And like the dairy section it has cheese—good cheese—that is often ignored by many. The de-emphasized content of the subplot is one of the best kinds in the chiller and it is in that subplot where the very special love is more salient and powerful. The song lyric title, after all, would have still worked sans the corny romance. But then the studio seems to think that quickmelt is superior to raclette.
The curd of the plot is the best example of how generically cheesy the movie is. The off-the shelf elements are as follows: (1) He is heaven she is earth, they can never be together . . . that is until they reach the horizon (Some poetic cheese for your enjoyment! God, it’s contagious!); (2) hate-love-hate-love, and (3) "you complete me" scenarios.
The movie also pays homage to imported formaggi. Puking on someone in an overly long nursing scene reminiscent of Korean cheese is one of these tributes. The work environment at Flippage, a magazine publication office, is a bow to Hollywood cheddar, although the American kind is of higher quality. The tribute would have been complete if the costume designer exchanged devilish Miggy’s Calvin Klein for Prada.
It’s not all that bad though. Laida’s daydreaming in the meeting is the right kind of funny, nothing forced and over-extended. But the subplot involving Miggy’s desire for legitimacy is engaging and more resonant than the flippant romance of the main plotline. It would have been better if the movie focused on this rather than the farcical love story. But then, there would be nothing to justify the song lyric title.
Performance-wise, most of the cast churn out ordinary performances of stereotyped characters. What is worth watching though, is Dante Rivero’s subdued performance of a father torn between pleasing his legitimate children and giving his love-child the affection and love he deserves. Sarah Geronimo is more of a comic relief than a romantic lead and towards the end it becomes tiresome. As for John Lloyd Cruz, well . . . he knows how to make his tears roll down his face and it seems that it’s one of the highlights of the movie, with the close-up and relatively long-take for maximum emphasis.
The movie, overall, has more cheese than the dairy section of your local grocery store. And like the dairy section it has cheese—good cheese—that is often ignored by many. The de-emphasized content of the subplot is one of the best kinds in the chiller and it is in that subplot where the very special love is more salient and powerful. The song lyric title, after all, would have still worked sans the corny romance. But then the studio seems to think that quickmelt is superior to raclette.
No comments:
Post a Comment