Jason Paul Laxamana's Just a Stranger barely squeezes into the burgeoning subgenre of contemporary cougar cinema, as its May December romance strains a bit of disbelief. To be honest, it looks more like a September-December romance, even if Anne Curtis' Mae is purportedly twice the age of Marco Gumabao's Jericho. Whether you believe the age difference or not, the other tropes defining the subgenre are definitely there: a mature, repressed woman, a guy who is equally attractive, lots of sex, and friction that threatens to tear their relationship apart.
The movie is framed through a confession, and the love story proper begins with a romantic tryst in an exotic location, as if to call back to other mainstream romantic movies. The affair is literally that for both, as Mae is married and Jericho has a girlfriend. So far, so good, as the film begins to meld its May-December romance with a kabit movie. There's some camp in it, but not too much to be distracting. The film elaborates on Jericho's life and past, but what about Mae? Her marital issues aside, she remains mostly an enigma, defined almost solely by her experiences with her young boyfriend. Her past is communicated mostly through dialogue.
Everything changes in the third act, where the film becomes a commentary on how men of our current generation (specifically middle-upper class men) are raised. The film makes it a point in one particular sequence to criticize the practice of infantilizing and emasculating these men, arguing that it leaves them ill prepared for any future relationships. It's an elaboration of the May-December romance dynamic where the female lead seeks to 'liberate' her young lover from societal expectations to her own financial and social detriment, yet in defiance of her own societal expectations.
It's definitely not perfect, as the film is still packed with melodrama and kabit cliches, not to mention the fact that Mae ends up feeling like a storytelling accoutrement by the end of the film, but in a roundabout way, it sort of works. Looking past that, the film as a whole could also represent a calling out of hypocrisy in all its forms - a sort of angst that's also visible in Laxamana's script for Too Cool to Be Forgotten. We are all made up of facades here - a rich and powerful couple deeply unhappy, a young man thought to be perfect, or a random stranger in a church.
It's definitely not perfect, as the film is still packed with melodrama and kabit cliches, not to mention the fact that Mae ends up feeling like a storytelling accoutrement by the end of the film, but in a roundabout way, it sort of works. Looking past that, the film as a whole could also represent a calling out of hypocrisy in all its forms - a sort of angst that's also visible in Laxamana's script for Too Cool to Be Forgotten. We are all made up of facades here - a rich and powerful couple deeply unhappy, a young man thought to be perfect, or a random stranger in a church.
Mina-Anud was Cinemalaya 2019's closing film, and I'm glad I chose it as the last film of the festival. It's admittedly not for everyone, but to me it's a weird, quirky crime comedy/thriller that kept me entertained for most of its running time.
The premise seems outlandish, but is actually based on real, ongoing news. One of the most recent films perhaps inspired by the story is 2013's Kabisera, starring Joel Torre. But Mina-Anud takes that premise and mixes in stoner humor and a surfer vibe. It's irreverent, wild, and even funny. The characters of the film become rich thanks to their new occupation, but they obviously didn't read the part in the drug dealers' handbook where it says never to take your own supply.
Mina-Anud's fun lies in its unpredictability. The jig will be up in some way or another, but we don't know when. These are characters who have found an easy way to get out of their dire situation, but they are not aware that there's always a bigger fish, and that these dreams of easy money are a trap. In doing this, the film undergoes some rather drastic shifts in tone by the final act, and the end result will not sit well with everyone.
And like with many waves, a trough follows every crest. There's a bit of ambiguity in the ending, offering a glimmer of hope But it feels like the film is fighting the pessimism it established for itself, and any catharsis is thus left to wash away with the waves.
The premise seems outlandish, but is actually based on real, ongoing news. One of the most recent films perhaps inspired by the story is 2013's Kabisera, starring Joel Torre. But Mina-Anud takes that premise and mixes in stoner humor and a surfer vibe. It's irreverent, wild, and even funny. The characters of the film become rich thanks to their new occupation, but they obviously didn't read the part in the drug dealers' handbook where it says never to take your own supply.
Mina-Anud's fun lies in its unpredictability. The jig will be up in some way or another, but we don't know when. These are characters who have found an easy way to get out of their dire situation, but they are not aware that there's always a bigger fish, and that these dreams of easy money are a trap. In doing this, the film undergoes some rather drastic shifts in tone by the final act, and the end result will not sit well with everyone.
And like with many waves, a trough follows every crest. There's a bit of ambiguity in the ending, offering a glimmer of hope But it feels like the film is fighting the pessimism it established for itself, and any catharsis is thus left to wash away with the waves.
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