The Mistress

I’m really a sucker for Filipino films, especially those produced by Star Cinema. It’s one of my ways to support the industry. Why would I not support Filipino movies when film makers always try to make quality works of art?

Just last month, Star Cinema revived the John Lloyd Cruz-Bea Alonzo love team through The Mistress (directed by Olivia Lamasan). The Mistress is a four-sided story about the wife (Hilda Koronel), the benefactor (Ronaldo Valdez), the lover (Cruz), and the mistress (Alonzo).

The story is kinda predictable and cliche for me so I don’t want to share the details anymore. Perhaps the only twist of the plot was that JD Torres (Cruz) turns out to be the son (well, not actually biologically) of Rico (Valdez); hence, the line by Regina (Koronel) “Layuan mo ang mag-ama ko. Tagalog ‘yan para maintindihan mo.” (Stay away from my husband and my son. That’s in Tagalog so you would comprehend.)  In the movie trailer though, Regina just said “Layuan mo ang asawa ko…” (Stay away from my husband…) so as not to spoil the twist.

The usual John Lloyd and Bea throwing cheesy lines tactic was again used to make the movie lasting in the mind of the viewers. This technique in script writing proved to be successful for Star Cinema in making many of its films very memorable.

There were some parts of the film that left me hanging though, like:

• What was JD’s real intentions for pursuing Sari (Alonzo)? Sometimes the attraction seems real. Sometimes it looks only as a means for revenge. In the end, it was still unclear for me.
• How could the best cutter of the tailor shop make a serious error of using the wrong material to make a barong? Why did JD and Sari drive all the way to the province just to deliver the barong when they could just have it delivered by courier? These are just examples of many poorly written parts of the story.
• What was the story of the kid for? Just comic relief? I think the scenes were unnecessary and did not help develop the plot or characters. There were many unnecessary scenes that when removed, could have shortened the film’s running time.

The lesson of the film or the reality shown by the story is that cheating never brings good. Everyone suffers in the process, and it was well-told through the misery that the characters went through. The part that I loved the most was the ending. For me, it was realistic and believable, and no other alternate ending could have been better.

I can say that I liked the film, though I didn’t love it. It actually made me cry and laugh. The finale took me by surprise. It totally blew me away and broke my heart at the same time. I just had some reservations with some of the scenes that I mentioned. Overall, I think it was a good (versus outstanding) film.

My rating: 75%