Film Review: Nasaan Ka Man

A well-crafted, bittersweet love story
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

From www.yourinternetlifestyle.com
http://www.yourinternetlifestyle.com/innerpages/article.asp?mm=moviesmusic&id=83
Date: 6/20/2005 10:04:59 AM
Source: Rianne Hill Soriano
Starring: Claudine Barretto, Jericho Rosales, Diether Ocampo
Directed by: Cholo Laurel

Set in the fog-covered, cold and mysterious Baguio (which reflects the moods and ambiance of the story), Nasaan Ka Man is a film about tragic love and passion, undying memories, unfulfilled promises and lost dreams. It opens with that horror feel crawling into a melodrama/love story mood and musing into a suspense-filled story which extends to the issues of the paranormal and that touch of horror injected every now and then. It takes on different dimensions and hues to the usual love triangle story. Filled with metaphors, finely orchestrated camera movements, and breath-taking visuals, its heaviness is complemented with stunning cinematography and powerful individual performances which all absorb deep-rooted emotions that are troubling, secretive, mysterious, violent and painful.

The story revolves around three adoptive children of two spinster sisters who have raised them. An epitome of a happy, religious and conservative family from the outside but filled with repression and tragic memories from the inside, family complications, jealousy and revenge try to seriously tear them apart. The composite world the two sisters have created where the three adoptive siblings have dwelled in becomes a contrived space of fragility and emotional disturbance of varying magnitudes.

The direction and handling of the actors are effective. There is rich characterization. The characters are played around with grayness, greatly contributing to the story’s complications and its side of suspense. Each character is well crafted both inside and out. On the physical, emotional and psychological plane, we see: the quirkiness of Trining’s (Hilda Coronel) slightly deaf character (which becomes a source of humor, a comic relief to the story’s heaviness) and her passive bearing to her older sister’s authority inside their prison-like home; Lilia’s (Gloria Diaz) domineering old maid stance which expresses herself by covering up her sadness by trying to look good through her flair for make-up; Pilar’s (Claudine Baretto) initially loving and innocent nature to a confounded, fear-stricken temperament – along with her opened third eye, and her being a product of sin and violence herself (one of the family secrets to be revealed in the story), she unconsciously gets cleansing by immersing herself on the bath tub at times; Joven’s (Jericho Rosales) kind, introvert bearing as the outcast adopted child who is so much filled with his inspiration and thoughtfulness for his beloved Pilar; and Ito’s (Diether Ocampo) repression from his silent obedience to the laws and rules of the house as an overprotected adolescent male who becomes ultimately jealous and troubled.

Pilar and Joven fight for their love until they are finally granted the hard-earned family blessing. Ito, totally-wrecked by this, gets his revenge by violating Pilar. Trining is sympathetic to Pilar's plight, but Lilia is more concerned with his favorite son, Ito. The deliberation among them becomes a realistic reflection of how it goes within a typically conservative Filipino family in such turmoil. And as the story progresses, Ito rages further as he knows he can’t have Pilar’s heart in any way. And violence causes a tragic death in the family.

There is parallelism between the spinsters’ and their adopted children’s fate. And though there are some questions on the believability of the storyline (more than just the paranormal vs. realism and family issues), the capacity for disbelief is removed. The justification on what happens to the story is carefully built up by the well-made screenplay of Ricky Lee and Rafael Hidalgo, effective characterization and performances and the over-all treatment of the director Cholo Laurel.

Aside from having an efficient production staff and crew, the cast provides a good contribution to the film’s success. Claudine gives justification to her role. She is not overacting nor underacting, just right. The rape scene is truly gripping. It gives that worst feeling for the viewer. The tight and uncompromising shots of her being gripped upon make a really effective scene giving a sad and painful grudge to such fate. The characters of Jericho and Diether with their roles as rivals give enough room for steady development. The chemistry of Gloria and Hilda, delivers wonderful portrayal. They also provide the comic scenes and lines. There is a nice utilization of silence supplemental to that shock mood after the family learns about what Ito did to his sister. Jericho bursting from the hurt at the bathroom scene during the rape aftermath was very much compelling. Irma Adlawan’s character as a blind helper who has an opened third eye and Katherine Luna as her daughter, a willing victim at a certain point of the story, become the weaving factor for the enhancement of the storyline.

The film is filled with a number of intense scenes of argumentations and fighting. The love scenes are subtle, suggestive and carefully crafted. Pilar and Joven’s love scenes are very passionate and very gentle and very sincere. Pilar and Ito’s rape scene is way much violent, painful and struggling.

There are small bits of loopholes in the story. A very much disappointing part for me personally is the scene where Pilar is asked to check the fuse (after a blackout) when the suspense of Ito’s further revenge is at its peak. It seems forced into the story just to get Pilar alone in the dark, ready to be menaced by the deadly Ito. When in reality, if you are in danger, you wouldn’t check on the fuse but think of how you can save your life… and make sure that you have company with you…

Overall, the story has a well-handled exposition. It is complicated and delicate. Tight and distorted shots contribute much to the heavy and emotional moments. Even though the themes are "borrowed" from other films, it has been put together in a good light. With its effective twists (although most are gotten from thriving Hollywood films), the audience is given some silent screams that are far better and scarier than the outright shocks of red gore and hard-core monstrous effects (talk about what genre… horror/suspense/love story/melodrama?). The film is emotionally tying and won’t give that feel-good mood after watching it. With a considerably depressing ending, this film is a must-see for those who can take a certain heaviness in a film and would like to ponder on some simple but good realizations as “being thankful to things that are given to you, mainly, the people you love who are still with you… or who are still there...”