Friday, September 21, 2012

The Mistress (Movie Review)

                                              “Hindi dahil gusto mo makukuha mo.”

Once again the unbeatable chemistry of the love team Bea-John Lloyd drenched our hankies and dried our tear ducts in Star Cinema’s 10th year anniversary offering. The Mistress gave a different dose on what we expect of true love and happy endings.

The story evolves on the intertwined lives and loves of the characters. Sari (Bea Alonzo) who is devoted in helping her family is the secret lover of Rico (Ronaldo Valdez) while his wife Regina (Hilda Koronel) becomes a drunkard because of one mistake she did that resulted to a son born from another man; JD (John Lloyd Cruz) who is then determine to take revenge on his father’s woman but ended up falling in love with her. Each character that we met in this movie would not be remarkable without the other.

I was endowed to Regina’s character, who struggles for her husband’s attention and forgiveness because of one mistake of bearing a child from her lover. In return, her husband kept on punishing her by carrying on with a string of mistresses but she knew very well that her husband would always come back to her eventually. This shows the bitter truth that if a woman made a mistake by taking in a lover she would be marred by it for the rest of her life but when a man takes on a mistress it was not a mistake but an accepted reality. Then there is Rico, a successful man trying to find a love that faithfully adores him which he found in Sari when he himself cannot seem to be loyal enough with his own wife. Sari was a tough woman with an enduring heart. She was your typical Filipina daughter that bears the responsibility for her family and even vowed never to get married. She was the woman who is always ready to take care for someone else and totally forgetting about her own happiness. She eventually finds a love that cares for her in Rico. And then we have JD, a son who was behind the shadows of his deceased half-brother and begged for his father’s love though he hates his womanizing activities that drew his mother into being an alcoholic. He soon found out who was his father’s mistress and vowed to seek revenge for his mother. But alas, love came as they least expect it and complicate matters.


This is a love story that does not give you butterflies in the stomach and excites you with 'kilig' moments. This is a love story that tells you that not everything you ever wanted will always come your way as Sari said in the movie. But JD's side believes that there would always be a way to get what you want if you really do want it. Then again, this love story will not give you the resolution you have been hoping for in the end. Their love story gives us the realization that when love is true it endures and sacrifices. No matter how you love or who you love it will always teach you that love sacrifices. No matter how long you have hoped for or no matter how much you wanted to be with each other, there will come a time that you would have to sacrifice. If not for the both of you, it would be for the betterment of the people around you. In the end, the movie leaves the decision to its audiences. How you see the ending will show how much are you willing to take or sacrifice for love?

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Void


I often find myself thinking over something a little too much. I tend to over analyze and end up confusing my own mind. So when I started looking from afar and went blank, I felt scared. I do not feel normal. I know there is something wrong. It is not bleak or confusing at all, my mind just went blank even my feelings.

To be hollow is too deep a word. It is also way too much frightening to feel vacant in some part of my life. It is still normal to feel the emptiness. When suddenly the random thing you are so familiar with felt exhausting. But really, it is not exhausting but it just seems meaningless. There was this one night that I found myself crying because of one question that I do not have the answer. They say I always know about certain things. They are wrong. There is one query that always sends me to tears or just put me into mum mode. I was trying to evade that question. Luckily, there are not too much people who had asked me that question. Well, maybe I do not look the type who needs to answer that question. The truth is I am scared because I do not have an answer myself.

The question is: what is it that you really want in life? I feel like I am the most stupid person in the world because I cannot answer that question. I would love to answer it but I know at the back of my mind it is far from the reality of me. I know I would be a hypocrite if I do not want something in life. I really have a lot in my mind and so let me just spill it out. I would really love to have a DSLR camera and took pictures about anything. I would love to explore London and Paris. I would love to learn to speak French. I also loved to get a second degree, maybe International Studies or Literature or Foreign Languages. I would also love to join a cause and be a proud crusader of maybe the environment, social awareness or something that I can offer my help. I can also include some ridiculous dreams when I was a child. I wanted to learn ballet, or be a figure skater; be a pianist or a gymnast. So you can forget the dreams because that was a fruit of some childish dreams. It is a far cry from where I am now.

I know it is wrong to blame life or what I am in the society if I was finding it hard to get what I want in life. I can never blame my family for being poor and just giving me what will suffice for me and my siblings. At a young age, I have learned to be contented and bear in my mind that not all that I want in life is what I will need. My parents instill in me that what you need will be enough and sacrificing what you really want for the better. But here comes the emptiness. There is always the satisfaction that cannot be filled by just a mere need. Human being will always want something or anything. Some lose their way and fail at the end because they seek their wants on a wrong road and on a wrong purpose. A want can be a need if we only know how to keep our heart and mind glued to what really matters. I maybe sounding like a preacher right now or a self-righteous person but I know I am also weak. There are a lot of times that I want to be selfish and just what I want. But my life is not always easy like the others. I know how it is sacrifice and let your happiness set aside so others can be happy. I do not always have the easy way.

And yes, because of what I want being set aside I feel so empty and void about my life.  I was always asking myself if this would do and gratify my wants. The answer was right in front of me all along. Again I may sound pompous. The void that I encounter was there because I failed to make myself happy with what I do best; being a good daughter, a sister and a friend. The void was swallowing me for I feel I have not done my part with the people around me. It may sound annoying to just stay nice but this is me and I am good at it. This I what fulfill my being. Eventually, what I want will come to me in God’s time. As they all good things come to those who wait. And a void will be there so it can be filled up.