Cinema One 2015: BAKA SIGURO YATA: Familiar Yet Fresh

November 17, 2015

Like last year, the schedules of this year's Cinema One Originals Film Festival was not too ideal for me. The two times I had time, I was only able to see revisited films from last year. While that was not really that bad, I had really wanted to watch and write about any of the seven films in competition this year. Again I could only catch films after the awards night, so I was already biased in my choices. This film won the Audience Choice and the Best Actor award. I was luckily able to squeeze it into my schedule despite the monstrous EDSA traffic the APEC meet created.

"Baka, Siguro, Yata" ("Maybe, Probably, Possibly") is comedy about three couples and the doubts they have about their relationships. The central couple is overweight slacker Carlo (Dino Pastrano) and Melissa (Valerie “Bangs” Garcia) the girl he gets knocked up on their first drunken encounter. We also see Adrian (Ricky Davao) and Remy (Cherie Gil), Carlo’s estranged parents who rekindle their old flame behind the backs of their current partners. The third couple is Melissa's sister Myka (Katrina Legaspi) and Jinno (Boo Gabunada) and their typical high school dilemma of losing their virginity after the prom.

I did not know Dino Pastrano before this film. I thought this was his first film (it was not) but with the Best Actor award he won, this is definitely his breakthrough film as an actor. Carlo was a loud, lazy loafer, yet the charming Pastrano still manages to get us to like him a lot, and even root for him to get through the tight situation he got himself into. That scene when Melissa shows Carlo the pregnancy test was LOL funny with Pastrano's odd and awkward antics. His face gets slapped left and right here so many times, but hey, the audience loved him for it so the pain was all worth it.

Honestly, I actually liked the parts with the senior stars Ricky Davao and Cherie Gil more. It was truly fun to watch these two actors, more known for their serious dramatic roles, let loose as they played their naughty roles with comic relish. It was just too bad that we do not get to know more about their past, particularly why they separated at all in the first place. They seem so in sync with each other, it made me wonder what event drove them apart and settle for less satisfying relationships.

Katrina Legaspi gave a winning performance as the annoying younger sister Myka. She can steal the scenes from the leads whenever she is onscreen. Strangely, the usually fiery Bangs Garcia did not register too strongly with me this time around despite her bigger role as Melissa. Mailes Kanapi even made a stronger impression than Garcia in her two small scenes as the quirky mother of the girls. Boo Gabunada seemed like an odd choice to portray Jinno. However, he will always be remembered for his corny yet catchy ditty which rhymed the English word "bliss" with the Tagalog word "nakakainis" (annoying).

On paper, the three stories are not at all new. The third act was also too neatly tied up. However the humorous way that these stories were written and directed by Joel Ferrer makes them resound to the millennial, senior and the youth generations. Ferrer was also able to assemble together the right actors to embody his wacky yet endearing characters. The loud guffaws and the generous applause at the end credits were proof of its effective connection with the audience. It is no wonder it won the Audience Choice award. 8/10.