QCinema 2017 | Kulay Lila ang Gabi na Binudburan pa ng mga Bituin

Based on a Palanca-award winning screenplay, Kulay Lila ang Gabi na Binudburan pa ng mga Bituin tells the story of Aries and Chai, who have decided to go on a couples' retreat to salvage what's left of their eroding marriage. Their stated goal is to have a baby, but that's the least of their problems: it's obvious that both Aries and Chai both have personal neuroses and emotional baggage that puts a significant strain on their relationship.

At first the setting of the film seems like something rooted in magical realism: neither Aries nor Chai can leave the retreat until the matter is resolved, and the background tends to do strange things. It's explained in detail later on, radically altering our perceptions. However, our understanding of the characters hasn't really changed.

The film remains faithful to the script, which could either work for or against the film depending on how one interprets it. While it's mostly wildly entertaining, the script tends to devolve into theatrics, making the movie feel more like a play on film rather than a proper screenplay. The dialogue tends to be a little bit more crass than usual, with characters choosing to speak their emotions out loud. It ultimately feels too unnatural, too staged. At the same time, since we are seeing projected inner thoughts, the lack of decorum is somewhat justified in some scenes. It's a genuine example of why the "best" screenplays don't always translate into the best films.

The production doesn't match the film's visual ambitions as well. There are some CGI scenes that wouldn't look out of place in a commercial in the late nineties. They're supposed to be transitional scenes juxtaposing the enormity of the universe and the smallness of this couple's problems, but they just look cheap and unconvincing.

That said, there's something about this film that I can't shake off. Like its fellow QCinema film Dormitoryo, a large chunk of the enjoyment of this film stems from unraveling its characters' true motivations and feelings. The film's catharsis comes from the fact that there is no catharsis for our characters; once they think they've found a breakthrough, they settle back into old rhythms.

Kulay Lila ang Gabi na Binudburan pa ng mga Bituin suffers from some heavy flaws, but there's something about it that interests me, enough so that I can't completely dismiss it out of hand.