I want to premise this review with a disclaimer that although I’m calling it a “review”, it should be known that I am completely out of my depth here in trying to dissect or provide a professional commentary about the intricacies of film making and story telling. I am but an avid fan of films in general and a lover of stories; that being said, after watching Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon, I realised that I have a lot of things to say regarding the film as a piece of art form and the contents within it, hence why we are here. I hope you find some wisdom or at the very least get a good read about the opinions of a completely random dude who just merely appreciates the simple things in life. Right! now that’s all out of the way, let’s dive right into it! Oh and **spoilers** ahead!
The story starts with two couples living seemingly separate lives from one another. The first couple is Sam and Anna, they are both teachers and are working together in the same school, we first see them as a fairly normal couple in a romantic relationship. This is paralleled by the other couple Frank and Isa, a pilot and a business woman, who are pretty much in the same boat regarding their relationship, or at least that’s what it seems to be.
I got to be honest, the story of the film is nothing completely out of the ordinary, it’s a simple story about relationships and how one relationship affects the other ones you have in your life. What I found very special in it is the way the story was told, for me, the best type of story telling (especially in films) is the story that unfolds by itself. By the simple gestures of the characters, how they interact with the world around them and with other characters. I was so surprised by how natural the conversations flowed and how nostalgic the moods are, I remember being enthralled by the music and the scenery because it was what the Philippines felt like to me in reality. If a film invites you to engage with it just by its basic elements, that’s how you know it’s something worth paying attention to.
Moving on further into the story, it was revealed that these seemingly random people are connected after all. Sam and Isa actually had a previous relationship five years prior to their current ones. And by chance, as films tend to create, they meet again. Again, how natural this scene was astonished me. The awkwardness of meeting someone from your past, the unsure quality of your voice and the over all merry-go-round of emotions one must feel when someone who used to be everything to you suddenly pops out of nowhere and catches you by surprise. It made me think of how I would have reacted to this a year ago, when all this magic of being in love and being hurt was all but a distant reality. I was a hopeless romantic you see, until I got into a serious relationship myself earlier this year, I thought of scenes like these and theorised how they must have felt like in reality. I can honestly say now that I have a better perspective and understanding of what love actually is since then, but this scene definitely brought me back, and yea, I think it’s a pretty accurate depiction of how I (or anyone else for that matter) would have reacted given the situation. I just love how raw and natural the scenes are acted out, unlike most films (unfortunately in the Philippines) that come off as very artificial and clunky.
The conflict of the story happens after Sam and Isa met incidentally again, after their first brief encounter they were invited to a mutual friend’s anniversary party, to which they both came with their respective partners to. The night went on seemingly well, too well, if I might add. For once it felt unnatural that there wasn’t any kind of awkwardness between the four characters at all; knowing that two of them had a history together. If that’s just my pettiness coming out or a creative “we’re-in-a-movie” decision, I’ll never know I guess, but I just thought it would have made sense if at least a tiny bit of tension were shown between these characters but voila, none what so ever. Not until they were on their ride home at least, you can just tell by the poignant score in the background and the sombre mood the scene gave off that something was off. The story continued into another chance meeting of Sam and Isa, they spent the day together seemingly as good friends who just wanted to catch up on each other but soon one of them broke down and asked the ultimate question that was on everyone’s mind (or in this case, my mind) “What happened to us?” Now I got to admit that I saw this from a mile a way and this scene was probably one of the few scenes I thought felt misplaced and unnatural as they shouted at each other in the middle of a busy street but oh well, maybe that’s how it really is in real life. A little bit more information was revealed at how their relationship ended though I would have wanted to know more; but from what was said, I guess it was just enough and was left for open interpretation. I’m just glad it didn’t go to the typical, “I guess we’re gonna cheat now route” and instead ended in how I felt was the most logical way to end things like that, you walk away from each other and call it a day.
I guess one of the major themes of this film is about closure too, I could tell by Sam’s words that he was still haunted by their previous relationship, same goes for Isa in her actions. Now the question of whether they should have entered into a new relationship if they were aware that they haven’t completely moved on from each other yet was right or wrong, is up for debate, but for me personally…I thought it was leaning towards the wrong end. You can love someone else while moving on from someone, I get that it happens, but at that point you shouldn’t let your emotions get to the best of you. Think of the other person, think of yourself. It’s just unnecessary torture, for you and for the person you’re promising to love. But hey, feelings get buried and suppressed, who would have known that they would meet again right? Maybe Sam could have moved on while still maintaining a healthy relationship with Anna and everything would have worked out fine in the end, but then again, what if it doesn’t? I just think that you should be able to enter a relationship without any attachments from previous commitments. What do you think?
Revelations happened afterwards, I forgot to mention about the subplot of Frank and Isa planning to migrate to America and start a new life before everything happened. It wasn’t going to happen anymore now that it backfired into the recent events that Frank had caught up on; eventually leading him to self-reflect and decide that he doesn’t want to move to America after all. Although nothing out of bounds happened, I could understand Frank’s perspective when he noticed something was different about Isa ever since she met Sam again and how that might have seeded some doubts into his mind. The same happened to Sam and Anna, she knew that there was something going on and that Sam has not been fully honest with her regarding his feelings towards Isa. Needless to say, as these things go, their relationships ended, maybe for different reasons or maybe for the same ones, the bottom line is: relationships are much more delicate than we think them to be. I understand that now, so much so than I could ever have hoped for when I wasn’t in one. Maybe that’s why this story struck me more than it should have.
I completely understood all four of the characters motivations, no one did anything wilfully wrong or ill-intent, they were all just in the journey of finding happiness and found the opposite. It makes you think of how ironic the concept of finding happiness truly is, at least on the surface; again this brings me back to my reflection on how I would have viewed these concepts a year ago when I had a very unrealistic view of the world. I used to think that happiness resided in things that we owned, that it’s out there and I just haven’t found my ‘thing’ yet. Only recently did I connect the dots and realised that happiness lies within us and that we are inherently it. If Sam had only worked on himself first and properly went through the harsh and difficult process of moving on, he would have went into a relationship with Anna knowing that no matter what happens, he wouldn’t budge. Had Frank been completely honest with Anna about his second thoughts about moving to America and how he felt like he’s losing himself, they could have found a common ground and maybe planned things out a bit better. Little things contribute to our decisions, unresolved issues and unanswered questions surely has their way of creeping back on to us when we least expect them to. I’m not an expert in relationships, I’m only learning these things as I go myself, mind you, but I think I can say that with enough confidence that I am leaving it on this “review” for the world to see.
Well there you have it, the film ends with how Sam and Anna first met, if it was a deliberate cliffhanger to get funds for a second film or an attempt to start over, (which is again, ironic, since time travelling isn’t really a feature of normal human beings) I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Filipino film and got properly satisfied for how simplistic and natural the elements came together. The cinematography was top notch, story telling was organic and there were reflective themes that were brought up.
If you have anymore film suggestion that are in the same quality of this one, please do recommend them. I think the Philippines’ cinema industry desperately needs this type of quality to their films, more grounded and less superficial. More straight to the point rather than rehashes and poor attempts at “Hollywood” style films. I have always believed that there is a certain finesse and world class quality in Filipino art, and films like this give me hope that one day we’ll have our mark out there together with the greats, but for now let’s enjoy these rare golden nuggets of awesome story telling and support Filipino film-makers and artists alike!
P.S.
I didn’t realise Emman was in this film until I saw him in it, RIP brother. You will be missed.
Krisper 