At the start, Delia and Sammy feels like one of many similar films about the elderly, such as 1st Ko Si 3rd (2014), Lorna (2014) and last year's Paki. The storytelling at this point is imperfect and subtle, but it generally gets the point across. As the movie goes on, however, it becomes quite evident that Delia and Sammy are not the most likeable of characters. Sammy (Jaime Fabregas) in particular is more than a handful: he is a serial philanderer, he is strict and chauvinistic, he has a homophobic streak and his cantankerousness is only exacerbated by his dementia. Delia, on the other hand, is an actress whose star has faded, best known for her roles as a kontrabida (mirroring the career of her actress Rosemarie Gil.) At her worst, Delia can be haughty and self absorbed, using her acting talents to fool people and take advantage of neighbors and other strangers.
In any other film, Delia and Sammy would be the antagonists, creating misery and pain for the people around them. Indeed, as we learn more about Delia and Sammy's past, that's the role they have been playing for so long. But in this film, we are made to empathize (or at least sympathize) with them. And here is where the cleverness of the film emerges. We all know what happens to heroes and saints when they retire and grow old: they live happily ever after, they are treated gently till their last breath, and they are remembered fondly, with the support and love of friends and family. But what happens to the villains? Who loves and supports them when they grow old, are tired and worn out? Are they redeemable or worthy of love and redemption? Is there anyone capable of loving someone so heavily flawed?
And in the end, though the execution is not as clean as it should be, this cleverness pays off. Delia and Sammy explores one particular side of growing old: that moment when one looks at the life they've lived and see all of the scars they've inflicted on everyone else. While she probably wasn't as active in causing physical and emotional pain as Sammy, their actions weigh more heavily on Delia, since she doesn't have the privilege of forgetting. In the critical junction at the end of their lives where they need the most support, they have none, the consequence of a life full of bad decisions. The emotions behind these moments are varied and palpable - one can't help but think that both Delia and Sammy are complicit in their previous deeds, but one looks at the here and now and sees Delia, disintegrating from the inside, and Sammy, a shell of the man he once was, and pity takes over.
The film turns into a road trip, and the fact that it's set during Christmas turns it into a twisted take on the nativity story, where the sojourners are more Judas than Joseph. They are accompanied by Roger (Nico Antonio), a security guard who finds in Delia and Sammy the parents he never knew, and perhaps the dynamic goes the other way around as well.
The film ends with a clip of Celso Ad Castillo's Burlesk Queen (1977), where Rosemarie Gil played a supporting role as Virgie Nite. In that film, Virgie was a misunderstood character, not exactly a kontrabida in the traditional sense of the word; she was the former star of a burlesque show whose recalcitrant ways and alcoholism led to her firing and replacement. Delia and Sammy are no saints, and the film knows that, allowing us to examine them fully as people. At the end I imagined Delia as an older Virgie, and while one may imagine a miserable ending for the villain, here she is not alone and unloved; love is here, even underneath the blackness and rot.
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