October 12, 2022
Teenager Pol (Gold Aceron) lived with his mother Claire (Andrea del Rosario), who had raised the sickly Pol on her own since they were abandoned by his father. Pol best friend and study partner was their class science whiz Migoy (Kych Minemoto), who usually slept over in one bed at Pol's bedroom after they studied together.
Pol had long harbored a crush on Migoy, but he did not have the guts to come out as gay, fearing it would negatively affect their friendship. Migoy had long harbored a crush on Claire, age difference be damned. One night, in one moment of impulsive passion, Migoy confessed his feelings to Claire and even shocked her with a stolen smack on the lips.
The film did not waste much time to establish the whole premise of the film. In the very first scene, we already see a barely-dressed Migoy toweling himself off in front of a distracted Pol who was staring at him longingly. By the 10th minute, Migoy already declared his love to Claire, earning himself a slap for his boldness. But before the 20th minute, Migoy and Claire were already naked together in bed, cavorting in the sheets.
The rest of the film was spent exploring the ramifications of this awkward love triangle that had formed between these three people. Migoy and Claire were not exactly very subtle about their trysts, so Pol eventually caught them, causing him much sadness distress. When an additional complicating factor of a congenital illness was introduced, you can already see where things were going to go, and somehow predict how the story is likely to end.
For me, I thought director Mac Alejandre rushed things too much at the beginning with regards to how Migoy and Claire's love affair came to happen. Claire's initial repulsion and disgust was the normal and expected reaction. However, there was not any significant build-up to make her eventual acceptance of Migoy as a lover more believable. There was no absolute indication that she was thirsting for a male lover at that point in her life.
During the scene when Migoy introduced Claire to his parents (Lander Vera Perez and Yayo Aguila), it was very surprising how relatively smoothly things went. Their 19 year old son was dating a woman twice his age, yet all the mother could say was that old cliche about "marriage is not like a spoonful of rice which you can spit out when it is too hot". I hope this worn-out line was just an awkward ad lib, and not from the pen of National Artist Ricky Lee.
Andrea del Rosario's Claire is a modern single mother who had her own ideas about how she would raise her child. You may or may not agree with how she was doing things, but you knew she only had her child's best intentions in mind. Of all the ugly cries in this film, the only one which I felt was truly appropriate to the situation was Claire's cathartic cry after confessing her guilt to Pol. This breakdown was del Rosario's best scene which may bring her awards.
Gold Aceron's breakthrough role as a teenage inter-sex in "Metamorphosis" was deserving of the awards he won for it. Being Pol was right up Aceron's comfort zone, and he handled Pol's dramatic conflict very well. However, because of an androgynous vibe around him, I hope Aceron's future roles won't be limited to gay ones. He felt miscast when he played a lusty straight guy in "Scorpio Nights 3," but maybe his role shifts should not be too radical.
Kych Minemoto was the big revelation of this film. In the past, I only knew Minemoto as the swishy, wishy-washy gay friend in the "Gameboys" BL web series and films. However, as the precocious Migoy here, he was actually credible as a straight guy, which said a lot about his range as an actor. He did particularly well in that one scene he had with Yayo Aguila as his mother talking about their relationships in the dining room.
Ice Seguerra's signature love song "Pagdating ng Panahon" was used beautifully in the final scene, but when it was also used to accompany one particularly sensitive scene, it felt oddly incongruous to what was being shown on screen. Intimate scenes were inevitable in a story like this, but I felt the sex acts need not have been so graphically shown on screen. The story and actors were strong enough for this film to stand on without these scenes. 6/10
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