"Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo"

"Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo"

Gracey, Paolo C., Cora, Jho, Jacky, Jona and I watched “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” last night. We figured we should catch it before the movie theaters stop showing the 2006 Metro Manila Film Festival entries and replace them with stuff like “Eragon.”

The girls were enjoying themselves, laughing their guts silly while I was criticizing the movie from a film theory perspective—the stuff I learned from and had to submit every week in INTROFI in college. (Warning: This is not a casual observation of the film but a technical one.)

I found it odd that Jose Javier Reyes intentionally used shallow focus and kept the emphasis on Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo, especially at the beginning. The supporting actors like Derek Ramsay and Lui Villaruz were going to be given important roles and lines anyway, so I don’t understand why they had to appear blurred in the first 30 minutes, unless Reyes wanted to drive home the point that Judy Ann and Ryan were the only actors worth paying attention to.

Reyes uses a toned-down montage technique in “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” to good effect. It certainly doesn’t distract the audience with rapid-fire cutting, and it didn’t bore them by overly long takes either. Shot placement deliberately avoids jump-cuts and seems well-done.

Judy Ann’s acting was good. She fleshed out Anj’s traits well and did not shirk from the less savory stuff, such as a scene where she lets out a loud fart in front of Ryan’s Jed, much to his disgust. Ryan was a little more one-dimensional and I consider his acting merely adequate for the role, but effective nonetheless. Both of them, however, pale in comparison to Gina Pareno’s charismatic portrayal of Anj’s boorish mother-in-law. Pareno is not known for her comedic prowess, but all the laughable things she does will make audiences think otherwise. She is totally comfortable in her role and runs away with it, almost stealing the show.

There are still some “duh” moments in “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” where the solidity of the writing shows some cracks, most of them delivered by Gloria Diaz and sadly compensated for by her rubber-faced antics. Not everything is explained sufficiently either, such as Jed’s knack for collecting Batman toys and keeping them in mint condition. Not all Pinoys will understand that collectors like Jed treat these as investments, and taking such toys out of the box rapidly erodes their value to other collectors, so even a line or two about this fact should have made it in there. Lastly, this movie’s ad placement is too in-your-face. What is this supposed to be, a movie or a 120-minute advertisement? There are ways of making the promotions more subtle.

Still, I like the little things the writers did to emphasize the importance of the marriage aspect. Jed and Anj are not shown having sex until they are married—a welcome respite from most other films that influence audiences into sex outside of the marital bond. The insistence of the couple to do things independently, without intervention/interference from in-laws is remarkable, too. The infidelity aspect of the movie felt a little undercooked, however, especially as it made for a slightly flawed climax.

Overall, this is a good movie, the kind of which should be made more often. Still a bit rough around the edges, perhaps, but “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” ranks up there with big-name marquee foreign feel-good comedy films in many aspects. Films like this offer a beacon of hope for the Filipino film industry.