August 29, 2024
Paco (Piolo Pascual) was a very famous movie actor. He cannot even buy his coffee without people asking to take selfies with him. His present project was something very personal to him. He wrote the screenplay and is playing the lead character, and it was also his feature film directorial debut. During his initial pitch, he told the producer that the film was to be about existence -- an experiment on distinguishing what is real and what is fiction.
Paula (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) was Paco's co-star in this film, where she played the love interest of the male protagonist, a woman with a side mission to fulfill. More than that, Paula was also Paco's real-life girlfriend, and their relationship had reached the point that Paco had proposed marriage to her with a diamond ring. Unfortunately, after one particularly steamy night of passion, the ring got misplaced, which caused Paula much distress.
This film was written and directed by Paul Soriano, whose last directorial output was the much-maligned MMFF 2022 entry "My Teacher." This time around, his latest film was a complete 180 degree turn for Soriano, in terms of richness of concept, quality of production elements, and depth of acting by its stars. "Real Life Fiction" was an abstract arthouse film. It was certainly beautiful to look at, but the story it tells is open for various interpretations. My interpretation is a good as yours.
First and foremost, the entire screenplay was in English! The cast delivered their lines flawlessly in a way that oddly sounded dubbed. The elegant cinematography of Odyssey Flores (with varying degrees of color grading and unique camera angles) was outstanding, a class and caliber uncommonly seen in Filipino films. All the other technical aspects -- the editing, the production design, the musical score, the sound -- were all worthy of awards citation.
After "Mallari" (2023), Piolo Pascual challenged himself again acting-wise. His Paco was an famous actor tired of being famous, as this fame had taken away his real self, and this new movie was his way of rediscovering himself. This whole film was executed in a way that felt like it was the same movie Paco wrote and directed, with a cameo of an indie film icon as a pawnshop owner and a killer ending twist to make you rethink everything you've seen. 8/10
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