Movie: The Theory of Everything

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I have never heard of this film until Eddie Redmayne was given the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role recently. My husband recognized him as the actor who portrayed Stephen Hawking, apparently a world-renowned British physicist, also being called as the “modern Einstein”. I like biographies/bio-documentaries and physics used to be my most favorite science subject in high school, so it’s enough reason for me to be interested in this movie. Plus it reminded me of “A Beautiful Mind”, a story about a mathematical genius but with a not-so-perfect personality. Somehow it’s a humble reminder to us that really you can’t have it all.

It’s based on the memoir “Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen” by Jane Wilde Hawking, Stephen’s first wife. They met while in the university, an astrophysics/cosmologist nerdy student smitten with the pretty literature girl. But at the age of 21, Stephen was diagnosed with a motor-neuron disease (remember the ALS ice bucket challenge?) and was given 2 years to live. He then became recluse and won’t see Jane. She however, has already fallen in love with him and won’t take the disease as a hindrance to their relationship. They eventually got married and even had 3 kids. My husband and I were at awe how he managed to have kids, when he can’t even lift his jacket onto his head. I am more surprised when he and Jane divorced and he got himself a new wife in the person of his nanny-nurse Elaine. Surely, that thing down there is not controlled by the same nerves that control our motor skills.

His health has deteriorated so much through the years, now he is permanently stuck in his wheelchair and can’t even talk without a voice synthesizer. But no, he’s not the type of person who will just give up on life. He wrote his international best-seller book “A Brief History of Time” using the computer with a built-in voice synthesizer.

With all of these, it’s easy to say that this movie is about Stephen- his genius, rise to fame and his struggles with his disease. But more importantly, I think this is the story about love. Cliché as it is but love really conquers all. When you love someone, you tend to look beyond the imperfections. You will try to make it really work, you will defy all odds. For this, I salute Jane. It’s hard to see someone you love lose his ability to walk and talk, and still have that affection that goes beyond the physical traits. It takes a very strong person to do that. Stephen is strong to rise above his disability, but I think Jane is the stronger person character-wise.

How about you, how far would you go for the person that you love?



Happiness Count: ♥♥♥

Movie: That Thing Called Tadhana

I've been seeing posts about this movie in my social media feeds but never really entertained it. Then one day, I got myself into an elevator with two young officemates talking about the movie. Then a gay officemate told me sadly, "Sad ako ngayon, sold out na tickets nung Tadhana movie dito" (our office building is beside a mall with a cinema). So it really made me curious that I had to research what's the fuss all about.

The movie made its debut in the Cinema One Originals Film Festival last year with mostly sold-out screenings. It even won a Palanca award even before it was filmed. It's that good I guess. And with the catchy title and relatable hugot lines, no wonder it has left such impact on its audience. At the get go, you’ll think that this is your typical rom-com plot --- a heart-broken girl meets a boy, her knight in shining armor (or in this case, a knight with an extra luggage space). The scenes are not cinematically ground-breaking but instead mirror the normal life situation, combined with very honest dialogue lines and lots of swearings (when you’re in grief you swear, okay?).

I’m sure by now you already know about the hugot lines from the movie. I won’t be surprised if you even memorized them and posted them in your different social media accounts. Heck, I won’t be even surprised if I hear “Where do broken hearts go?” as the cellphone ringtone of every affected individual. So let’s say I’m giving yourself a break from reading more of those hugot lines and instead tackle other areas in the movie which caught my attention.

The dialogues. And I'm not just talking about the famous hugot lines. Hearing the two main characters talk just like ordinary people makes it so real and somehow you feel that you are part of the conversation. "Tange, di pa start!", "Bakit pa kasi ako nabuhay", "Ahh burgis...", "Pakita mo abs mo", are just few of them which stuck to me. I remember how my friends and I would talk or bash each other.

Videoke is the answer. You're happy? Let's sing and celebrate. You're sad? Let's sing and cry. We're Filipinos, we're born to sing. Misery loves company. Why is it that when we're sad, we tend to watch more sad movies? And speaking of broken-hearted, who could forget Popoy and Basha and their epic love story in the epic movie Once More Chance? Not to mention that it stars the dashing John Lloyd Cruz, who is the real-life boyfriend of Angelica Panganiban.

Speaking of Angelica, this character is so her! I think she made some of the lines herself (the "Tange" part was an adlib as the camera was still rolling even after the scene). She deserved the Best Actress award. JM De Guzman was also good in this movie. So subtle, so cool.

I could talk and talk here more about what I think about the movie, but I'd rather leave it at this. Sure, this movie is a refreshing take on what seemed like a typical plot. It has no pretensions, no promises. And I guess, aside from the catchy dialogues, this is what made it tick.



Happiness count: ♥♥♥♥