One day, a wealthy childless couple saw a homeless young boy Kid (Euwenn Mikael) and an older man, his Lolo (Joel Torre), seated together on the sidewalk across their house. The couple invited them into their house, and they got to know each other better. They eventually asked Lolo if he would agree for them to adopt Kid as their own son. Lolo reluctantly agreed and left Kid behind, protesting in tears.
Such melodrama is the substance of many Filipino drama films in the past, so you'd think this new film will be going down the same clichéd paths. However, even before the opening credits came on, everything turned out to a just one big con job. The charming grandpa-cute kid grifting partners take advantage of lonely people longing for a child to steal items they could sell to have cash for the next few days.
Given the twisted sense of morality of the story, writer-director Benedict Mique had to play a tricky game of balancing the genuine loving bond between Lolo and Kid, with the fact that Lolo was in fact exploiting Kid's cuteness to steal valuable items from their hapless victims. We are supposed to root for them to stay partners forever, yet we also know that it was very wrong for Lolo to bring up Kid into a life of crime.
Mique pulls this off thanks to the natural talent, charisma and chemistry of this two lead stars, the ever-reliable character actor Joel Torre and the MMFF 2023 boy-wonder of "Firefly", Euwann Mikael. Furthermore, Mique kept things light and funny, including those scenes with Lolo's favorite fence Taba (David Shouder). Lolo had a wholesome routine of amusement park and karaoke bar after each caper, nothing dark nor sleazy.
We were never shown any aftermath of their crimes for their victims, even if they were portrayed by name actors, like Meryll Soriano, Joem Bascon, Iza Calzado, Markki Stroem, Nico Antonio. While the film wasn't really about them, it felt cold that they just dropped out, never to be heard from again. I was hoping that these characters could've been revisited in passing before the film ended, but that didn't happen.
As one of the main highlights of their modus operandi, whenever Kid would turn up the waterworks, the audience is moved to tears. Towards the end of the film, the grownup Kid is already played by JK Labajo in a perfect bit of casting. Yes, we knew they'd get to sing "Through the Years" together again. But by then, we care enough about the partners that tears automatically well up at that bittersweet moment. 7/10.
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