or the dynamic of women’s choices.

the romance as a genre in philippine movies has, since the turn of the millennium, been common and surprising in turn. the surprises i personally trace back to regine velasquez’s foray into her julia-roberts-type of romantic films, where situations are perfectly created for both her limited acting skills, and for the middle class women that she portrays (and has as audience). although it can be said that much much earlier than that, judy ann santos and piolo pascual, as well that ricoyan-claudinebarretto-dietherocampo movie were the beginnings of more interesting takes on the romance (hello, boksingero si judy ann? naman).

but much of it of course, is common. the bestfriend as foil, the mother as foil, the useless if not absent father. and then there’s the penchant for happy endings, where as always, gods in baskets in every form imaginable WILL appear, and voila! the lovers live happily ever after. (more…)