Sometimes, films tend to represent a culture, a lifestyle, or in this case, a generation.
This is exactly what Samantha Lee's film, Baka Bukas, is all about. The film portrays a generation of people in an era where technology and social media has taken over almost half of everyone's lives. A movie depicting the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram generation. A generation I am part of. And proud to be part of. A movie about today's millennials. Baka Bukas (Maybe Tomorrow) is one of the full length entries in last year's Cinema One Originals 2016. It is also the winner of the Audience Award in the festival, and after finally seeing it for the very first time, I couldn't agree more. Imagine the me and the rest of the jam-packed audience's reaction while we were watching it last Monday, January 16, 2017 at the UP CineAdarna theater. I've been trying to watch this film after missing it's theatrical run last November 2016 to the point that I've been messaging their official Instagram account for possible screenings in the future. Luckily, the UP film Institute had a re-run of the films from last year's C1 Originals Festival and this is one of the first films that they screened during the first week. And so I decided to take this chance to finally watch this film and I was not disappointed.
The film follows a 23-year old gay girl named Alex, in an award-winning portrayal by Jasmine Curtis Smith (she grabbed the Best Actress award in the festival) who has been come out as a lesbian to her mother, and all her friends except her best friend Jess (played by Louise delos Reyes) as she is secretly in love with her. But one night changed everything, and Jess finally discovers her best friend's secret. They are then forced to face and confront their real feelings towards one another along the way. Based on the story, I guess it is more of a personal film by director Lee. She probably drew a lot of inspirations from real life experiences as the events in the movie are somehow very similar to real-life situations. The thoughts and ideas presented in the film are not far from reality. And it's actually scary to think about it. “One of the scariest things about coming out is finding out if the ones you love will stay after,” says Alex to her friend Julo, after she came out to her best friend Jess. Yeah. I agree.
I don't think the film wouldn't work if it weren't for Jasmine Curtis Smith's performance. Her portrayal of Alex is spot on, as if she have been living in the real world. Her character acts, talks, and feels like a real person stuck in this kind-of complicated situation. She's normal. She's just chill. She always tries to keep her cool. She doesn't over-react or exaggerate to the point that it is too dramatic or irritating. She is the exact anti-thesis of all the other female leads we've seen before in romance films and television series. Jasmine Curtis shines the most in her quiet moments. Those scenes where she's just there, staring blankly in space or lying alone in her bed. Her emotions are highlighted more in those scenes where she doesn't need to speak out what she's feeling at all, because it's all expressed by her eyes and body movements. Louise Delos Reyes adds fun to the movie as the quirky and most of the time, over-dramatic best friend Jess. I loved watching Louise Delos Reyes on screen, not only because she's just so pretty to look at but also because she can easily nail a part and be that character in just a wink of an eye. She can be anyone, and you wouldn't even feel any awkwardness seeing her in that role because she can perfectly fit into the character right away. Her portrayal of Jess might come a bit over-exaggerated at times but that let's face it, we know a lot of people like that in our lives. Which actually makes her character so fun to watch, because it's like seeing someone we knew in her image. also, the humor she brings in to the story adds more enjoyment to the overall experience. The film is too much based in reality and it comes off a bit of heartbreaking most of the time. So her character's presence gives the audience some time to breathe for a moment from all the stress and heartaches that we get while watching the movie. Her lines like "This isn't about you. This is about me!" will definitely bring a smile or two to your face.
Samantha Lee's direction is also one of the best things about this film. She manages to weave a film that greatly departs the usual romance films we see in local cinema. Her focus and treatment of the lesbian and gay characters in the story makes the film relatable to anyone in the audience. She presents them as real people, just like us. The way she creates tension and resolves it afterwards feel so real, as if it happened to her in real life before. Every aspect of the movie is raw and accurate, to the point that it felt like watching one of your friend's life in the big screen. Sometime along the way, we eventually would find one character that would speak to us. A representation of who we actually are, how we live and how we survive the reality of our our times.
Another cool aspect of the film is it's visuals and music. The whole film itself is such a joy to watch with all it's gorgeous colors and themes. The way the whole film was shot evokes the look of those photos that we post on Instagram and other social media sites. It's as if the every scene utilized those Instagram filters, making it look like art coming to life. The cinematography is gorgeously maneuvered, from the angles to the lightning. One of my favorite scenes from the film was the part where Alex and Jess stole a mask (a cute cat half-mask) and they both ran away from the shop. They ended up climbing and reaching a dark and empty floor where they stood by the glass windows and shared a kiss. That scene alone is worth the price of the ticket admission. It was just so beautiful to look at. These beautiful visuals are perfectly accompanied by an awesome soundtrack, you can't help but love this film.
Featuring an outstanding performance from it's two leads and a story that almost anyone of us can connect to, add in some stunning visuals and a matching soundtrack and we've got ourselves a film that portrays our generation in a harsh yet realistic manner. Everything feels so real. And that makes it at times funny and heartbreaking. We seldom see movies like this in our screens, and I am for one grateful that one director was brave enough to make a film like this.
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ out of 5
Starring Jasmine Curtis Smith and Louise Delos Reyes,
Directed by Samantha Lee
Winner, Cinema One Originals 2016 Best Actress (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), Best Sound (Andrew Milallos), Audience Choice Award
