At a certain point near the end of Loving in Tandem, there is a scene that both makes and breaks the film for me: Shine (Maymay Entrata) admits to Luke (Edward Barber) that she has done something wrong to him. The act is both selfish and selfless: she does it partly out of a need for Luke, yet at the same time she does it for the sake of Luke's mother. It's a scene that proved to be so frustrating and morally complex that it was initially hard to get behind it, and indeed my initial take on the film was that I didn't like it. Since then, I've been thinking about the film and my thoughts on the film are far more ambivalent than they were initially.
The scene that follows this is my favorite in the film, with Luke explaining to Shine that she's trapped in a prison: a prison comprised of people who want her to do what they want. Here, Luke becomes the most reasonable character in the film and he makes a valid point. And it isn't limited to Shine, either: the film is full of people who act both in selfless and selfish ways, people who try to project their own hopes and dreams onto people usually without consulting them first. Whether it be an irresponsible husband unable to properly support his family, or a mother's wish to limit her son's education just so he can stay in with her, or a thief that steals someone's entire life savings for the sake of a loved one, this film is full of such characters. Even the central love team is not immune to this: all throughout the film, we hear side comments goading the central couple to hook up, even if we are unsure of their real thoughts and feelings: people projecting their hopes towards something else. Thanks to the film's remaining ties to formula, the love proves fruitful, but something about that notion disturbs me even after watching the film.
This distinction provides a morally complex landscape that is anomalous compared to the usual sugary sweet Star Cinema production. In this case, crime is motivated not by simple notions of greed or malice, but by need. It's something that proves to be rooted in social realities, and this I appreciate about the film. On the other hand, there are some character decisions that I just can't get behind, which prove to be off putting.
Since I've lived under a rock for the past five years I only realized after the fact that the film is composed of alumni from the latest (and longest season) of Pinoy Big Brother. Fans will find a lot to enjoy from the movie. To its credit, it's pretty funny and entertaining. Sure, there's a bunch of cliches in the standard Star Cinema formula, but one doesn't go to McDonalds for filet mignon. The central loveteam of Entrata and Barbers is an interesting one. Entrata in particular is a promising actress, whose inclusion in the love team challenges traditional love team aesthetics in a refreshing way.
For all its charm, the film does suffer from various flaws, mainly in the characterization and the way the story is structured, and this really hampered my overall enjoyment of the film. Sometimes the film is simply structured badly Certain sideplots are red herrings or meet dead ends, with some plotlines just ending with no resolution. A central conflict regarding Luke isn't fully addressed at the end, though one can imply from the ending during the credits*. We no longer hear about the criminal syndicate, nor do we get closure regarding Shine's outstanding debt towards Luke. Thanks also to the film spending a good half of the running time on that conflict, it operates doubletime during the second half trying to establish its romance, leading to a romance that feels underdeveloped.
Ultimately, despite my many misgivings, I do appreciate the film for what it tries to do to escape its genre trappings. If you can get past its many flaws, Loving in Tandem is actually quite an entertaining experience. It shows us how love can make us act in selfless and selfish ways, and how relationships are not always black and white.
* SPOILER It's kind of a shame to let a US college scholarship-eligible student stay a mere highschool graduate after all is said and done, and this bothered me a lot, though one can assume that Luke pursued a college education here in the Philippines instead.
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