Jaz was very devastated with the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Migs the day after he proposed to marry her. Try as she may, Jaz could never move on from her shock and hurt at Mig's unexpected departure She even considered to undergo "heart replacement surgery" by a certain in-demand Dr. Rolex at the "Clinic of the Desperately Hurt" to forget her unendurable woes and recover her lost life.
To help Jaz move on, her best friend Kimpoy decided to bring her along to his vlogging trip to Bataan. Unbeknownst to Kimpoy, he brought Jaz to visit the same exact places (the Oriental Bataan Hotel, Sisiman Lighthouse, Five Fingers, the Ruined Bar) where she and Migs first met and fell in love a year ago. Instead of recovering, Jaz relived her happy memories with Migs, which further plunged her deeper in her sadness.
"Hugot" is the Filipino word to describe statements that carry deep emotional meaning, usually applied to a failed romantic relationship. The script of this whole movie is steeped in so much "hugot." Practically every line uttered by by the unceremoniously dumped Jaz was a major "hugot" line. Kimpoy also had his share of "hugot" lines as he nursed his ego hurt by a long unrequited love. One of the highlights of this film was Juan Miguel Severo delivering an impassioned freeverse "hugot" poem entitled "Wet Pillow" -- wet with tears, of course.
The beautiful love theme song of this film "Let Me Be the One" was written and originally recorded by pop balladeer Jimmy Bondoc in 2004. Like everything else, the lyrics of this song are also a bunch of eloquently painful "hugot" lines about letting a loved one go set to a gently heart-rending tune. In the film, we hear it sung first by Migs during a jamming session. We hear it again sung by Keiko Necesito to accompany scenes showing the events on the night Migs left Jaz.
I know Alex Gonzaga as a vibrant comedienne on TV but we do not see her smile too much in this one, except in those happy flashback scenes. However despite this, Alex was still very funny in her exagerrated scenes where she was wallowing in self-pity. She was delivering all those "hugot" lines with a serious deadpan face, but still came across as a rib-tickling delight. There were times when all these emotional "feels" can get repetitive and tiresome, but Alex's charm can still win you over in any case, most of the time.
Vin Abrenica was charming chap as Migs, and it was clear why Jaz fell head over heels for him. The audience was made to come up with a plausible reason why Migs did what he did because there was no scene clearly explaining his exact reason. Jerrold Napoles played a caring guy who simply could not get any girl to like him more than just a friend. The script directly made fun of his unattractive face and oily skin, but for me, there was clearly no chemistry between him and the girl of his dreams here.
This film was written and directed by Fifth Solomon, his feature film debut. Fifth first gained public attention when he and his twin brother Fourth joined Pinoy big Brother in 2014. He was noted for a controversial confession of being a bisexual, a fact that became a joke in the film. There were a number of PBB alumni in small roles, like Jason Gainza (as a janitor), Joj and Jai Agpangan (as Dr. Rolex assistants) and Loisa Andales (as herself).
Candy Pangilinan played Dr. Rolex, who gleefully discussed for us the steps of the "Loved and Dumped" syndrome, namely: hoping for nothing, feeling alone in the world, feeling angry at the world and accepting your loss. Some surprise cameos include Ruffa Mae Quinto (as the sexy but quarrelsome patient), Ricci Chan (as a job interviewer), Cai Cortez (the clinic endorser on TV) and Toni Gonzaga (as a tricycle driver).
Knowing how romantic Filipinos are, this film and its plethora of mostly well-written "hugot" will definitely connect with its audience, especially those who, for one reason or the other, are not in a relationship. Maybe watching this film, seeing how absurd how getting stuck in misery over a lost love can be and getting a good laugh out of it might actually help "desperately hurt" romantics move on. 6/10.
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