Chick Flick Review #2: One More Chance (Star Cinema, 2007)
I’ve seen this film six, maybe seven times, and I still
haven’t gotten tired of it. Though the
plot can be summed up as ‘boy and girl break up, miss each other, and get back
together’, the storytelling goes way beyond it.
First, it’s not told against the standard Star Cinema drama
template. No unnecessary theatrics, no
unbelievable characters, no unrealistic turns and twists. Most importantly, it’s a surprisingly real
portrayal of a relationship and the struggle to keep one’s sense of self and
identity.
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| Image from Wikipedia |
Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) and Basha (Bea Alonzo) are probably
some of the most memorable local film characters to date, especially since most
of One More Chance’s target viewers, both male and female, completely relate to
them. Overprotective and often
suffocating, Popoy is the kind of guy who thinks of himself as the proverbial
knight in shining armor, who should sweep his girl off her feet all the
time—even if she has expressly stated not to.
On the other hand, Basha is your typical girl who had spent her life
following orders—from her parents, her teachers, her friends, and, in this
case, her boyfriend. Looking at this
scenario can bring one to think that, hey, they’re made for each other, but
actually the fact that people are capable of changing and reach their saturation
point is played out here convincingly.
So Basha decides to leave Popoy, leaving him in a dazed and confused
state, and tries to start her life anew by making her own decisions. Popoy, losing the love of his life and the
one person on whom he had complete influence, went on a downward spiral to
alcohol and sleepless nights. One of the
most memorable scenes in the movie (for me at least) was when Popoy
accidentally sees Basha at their usual group dinner (they were part of a group
that would have dinner regularly in this one restaurant—I think it’s Bellini’s
in Cubao X) with her co-worker Derek Ramsey (forgot his character’s name, but,
whatever). John Lloyd was awesome in his
portrayal of the devastated guy who finally realized that his girl had indeed
moved on; his dramatic reaction was not over the top nor was it too
subtle. And that scene marked the end of
what I thought of as the ‘conflict’ part of the story.
The ‘resolution’ part turned out to be ok (but not as
riveting as the other one) and saw the appearance of Maja Salvador’s character
as Popoy’s new girlfriend. She had
Basha’s new short-hair style, which I thought suited her small, pretty face
more, and which was obviously why Popoy was attracted to her. She seemed more sure of herself, made her own
decisions, and basically had a better sense of herself—not exactly what Popoy
wanted. Of course, we all expected how
later—after Popoy and Basha started spending time together on a project—Popoy would
break up with her. Maja was luminous in
this scene, capturing the pain of a woman scorned to a T. Fabulous actress! Among young actresses today, she’s one of my
favorites.
All’s well that ends well as Popoy and Basha reconnect after
Popoy spends a year or so working abroad, which really meant that he had time
to change and shift his take on things like love. As he surprises Basha at her construction
site, we all know that this would be the start of something more permanent.
Feel-good movie. Not
exactly romantic, but not cynical, either.
Just right, believable, realistic.
No wonder so many people—like me—never get tired of watching it over and
over.
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About Me
- Cubicle # 12
- Should be making reports and presentations but would rather go shopping in Greenbelt.
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