Movie: I'm Drunk, I Love You.

General Review

I don't think it's an overstatement to say that I'm Drunk, I Love You. (IDILY) pleasantly surprised most of its audiences with its subtlety and thoughtfulness. At its core, it was a simple story of friendship and overcoming the awkwardness of unrequited romance. This is not something new in Philippine cinema (at all, haha), but I think it's the first time I saw it treated realistically without the goal of making everything over the top. Its power is evident in its quietness - the telling silences, letting the awkwardness play out, the little meaningful glances. So many films play this trope out by stretching it to maximum (hilariously convenient events, setting everything unnecessarily in a different country, playing out cheesy lines no one would ever actually say, etc.), but here it's kept well within its own boundaries - and that's ironically what makes it stand out.

In the end, what makes IDILY work is that it utilizes hugot culture without being manipulative, it features a regular relationship in a regular way, but with special cinematic treatment that emphasizes the point without having to actually say it (for example, through music or food metaphors). In this sense, it doesn't treat its audience as passive watchers, but as active participants - and as a film with unrequited love as its premise, this is an effective way shooting the viewer through the heart.

In case you won't read the spoilery parts down there, I'm gonna say it now: please go watch this movie. #SaveIDILY! Last I heard, it was only showing in 10 cinemas. Unacceptable. So few stories are like this, and so few give justice to the Filipino brand of friendship and love in the same way. Please do support films like these - they are what will keep our film industry alive. :)


What worked
Natural portrayal
Everything flowed so naturally in this movie. I think its success in this department is due partly to the fact that it was so quietly character-driven. This was a (failed) love story, yes, but its characters realistically had concerns other than love. In fact, when it comes down to it, Jason Ty was the most love-focused character in the story - and that's good. It put the friendship of the characters first - from things as overt as having them calling each other their best friends, to their little iPod game in the car, to things as small as the instant hurt in Carson's eyes (and resulting resentment) when she realizes Dio didn't tell her about going to Law School.

Before anything else, the treatment of the whole story was realistic. They don't get together, which is unique enough in itself, but we also see the strength their underlying friendship, how Carson deals with Dio's rejection, and, most importantly for me, how their friendship eventually endured. It could've ended at three or four different scenes (Carson crying to her mom, for example), but it was good that it didn't. It's important, so the movie feels whole, to see the eventual resolution where they're laughing with each other.

In the same vein, the dialogue was so real, it felt almost voyeuristic at times to be looking into the lives of these characters. What made it so different though, more than the dialogue, were the silences. The meaningful looks and glances brought the words home and made everything all the more believable.

In particular, I want to talk about how great Maja Salvador was. She was able to make this character her own - it wasn't a plain character whose purpose was for the audience to have a stand-in in the movie (in other words, a Mary Sue) - she was a unique character who spoke a certain way, processed things a certain way, dealt with her friendships a certain way. She didn't quite fall into the "I'm not like other girls" trope (mostly because she doesn't actually get the guy in the end), but she was real enough that no matter what kind of person you are, you will inevitably relate and sympathize with her. It takes a good actress to be able to achieve all of that while being funny and able to cry on cue over tuyo!

But one great actress does not make a film. She had great chemistry with all the other actors. In particular, she and Domic Roco as Jason Ty really brought everything home for me. The scene where they dance in the beach to Basta Kasama Kita made me almost tear up. Friendship is rarely portrayed that way in Filipino films - just being there, being weird together, being there for each other.

And, of course, Paulo Avelino. It would have been so easy to overdo his role in the film, to play to the camera's angles to elicit kilig from the audience, but he didn't do any of that. He actually played the supporting role very nicely - he was oblivious to her feelings, but obviously cared very much for and was close with Carson; he didn't overplay his relationship with Pathy, which was just starting over again; he wasn't leading Carson on or anything like that. But, even if he was just this normal guy, the audience can pretty easily see how Carson would develop feelings for him, and we can see how and why she continues to hope against hope that he'll like her back. And like Carson, we can resent him for not liking her back, but we don't actually hate him. That's also a tough balance to achieve!


Cinematic treatment
Still, for all it was realistic, IDILY still had great cinematic treatment that served to make the poignant parts resonate more with the audience. Its solid foundation was how realistic the story was, but the treatment was what elevated the story and made it more emotionally memorable to the audience.

The use of music, for example, was a good balance of being realistic and meaningful. The songs were pretty good by themselves, but they always played at contextually appropriate times in the film. I already mentioned Basta Kasama Kita (by Kai Honasan), which was used to emphasize the (best-)friendship of Carson and Jason Ty. The use of music ranged from something as subtle as that, to as overt as the Sorry song (No Umbrella by Cynthia Alexander) used when Dio finally confirms, with the same word, his lack of romantic feelings for Carson. It could have very easily been cheesy and over the top, but the good song choices and underacting during those scenes made it work.

It's also fun (well, that's a subjective word for this, haha) to note that as our main protagonist, Carson sings her own soundtrack during some of her personally significant scenes in the film. She's the second voice for Dio's performance in the music festival, but the song about having feelings for your kabarkada was all her; she continues Dio's song with escalating frustrated lyrics before she confesses her feelings; and, her song at the music festival about love lost and being sawi also pretty perfectly captures how she's feeling at the moment. Again, it sounds insanely cheesy in theory, but the solid base natural-sounding dialogue, acting, and chemistry between the cast makes it all just right.

Aside from music, the movie also uses food as a metaphor for themes. The most obvious being bagnet as a metaphor for Carson's feelings for Dio - she can't stop it, can't get enough of it, but it's bad for the heart. This, as opposed to Pathy's Vigan vegan ways, adds more layers to Carson's "Hearty vegetables" line and makes it funnier. Also, the day after Carson confesses to Dio, she eats tuyo for breakfast... as in tuyo na siya, pigang-piga na siya emotionally. She still cries at that scene though, to the dismay of her tablemates.

But probably the most interesting use of this metaphor is through the drinking. On one hand, it's as simple as the title implies: she had to get totally wasted before finally confessing her feelings, because it's a universal truth (also, science) that alcohol makes your tongue looser, makes you more uninhibited. It's a good plot device to get things out verbally without seeming like you're lazily telling the audience what happened and/or what's happening. Some things she did while drunk: recounted how stupid she was over Dio for the past seven years, admitted her feelings to him, had that deep talk on the beach with him, among others.

On the other hand, there's a change in how drunkenness is viewed in the story. At first, it's an excuse, a way to forget or to say things you wouldn't otherwise say. At the beginning, in fact, Carson is wasted and has to have Jason Ty pry the bottle from her hands. Eventually, they have shots in La Union to recall how stupid Carson was over Dio, wherein Carson is most vocal about her feelings for him.

However, everything after that is mostly sober - Carson goes home, cries to her mom, graduates, and celebrates. In the end, drunkenness (or, really, the act of drinking) is no longer an act of foolishness, no longer associated with negative connotations. Instead, it is an act of celebration and friendship - they start to mend their friendship by sharing a drink in the empty Tomato Kick balcony.


Combines the familiar and unfamiliar
Finally, aside from achieving a balance between being realistic and being cinematic, the film works because it uses elements that are familiar to us but presents them in a new way.

First, and most obvious, is the concept of the friendzone, but presented with no actual malice on the part of the rejected. Though she's obviously hurting and frustrated, Carson doesn't actually hate Dio. She hates that he doesn't like her, but that doesn't get in the way of their friendship - despite the lingering awkwardness, she still goes on a ride with him when he asks her, still drinks with him, and that's how she "graduates" from her feelings, like she said to Jason Ty in La Union.

(I'd go into further detail about how Dio kisses her and then she stops him, and how he respects her choice to do that, because that's great, but I feel it's more of a social tackling of the movie rather than a significant part of this review/analysis. STILL THOUGH!)

Second, there's a gay supporting character. "Masaya pag may bakla," as Eugene Domingo says in Babae sa Septic Tank 2. However, like I mentioned before, Jason Ty's arguably the character who is most concerned with love in the movie. His repeated time-checks for Carson were tied back to him: "Time-check na rin ako," as he considers Mark(?)'s proposal for a polygamous relationship. He isn't written off as an obligatory character - at least, not as much as gay characters usually are in Filipino films. The scene where he asks Carson, "magpaka-best friend ka rin naman sa'kin" is particularly telling of how their relationship is equal. Leaving aside the sudden progressiveness of introducing a gay polygamous relationship as a serious part of the film, this is already pretty new in itself.

Third, the Other Girl in the form of Pathy. Instead of showing her a 2D villain out to "steal" the guy, she's shown as just another girl who's on uneven footing as well. She seems less stressed compared to Carson, sure, but that's because she's been gone for seven years and the risk of pursuing a relationship with Dio, for her, are practically nonexistent. I'd compare her to Karen Filippelli on The Office (Rashida Jones's character) - she's hasn't actually done anything wrong, but She's Not Carson (or Pam, in Karen's case), which is the only reason we're not rooting for her.

Finally, and probably most important, this is a love story, but it's not one that ends with the guy and girl together. I spent the last half hour or so of the movie praying Dio wouldn't suddenly change his mind and decide he loved Carson, because that would've just ruined everything. The whole point is that people sometimes don't end up together, but it doesn't have to end badly and the hurt doesn't last forever.

That's why it's so beautiful and such a sucker-punch to the heart that the movie ends with Carson and Dio being friends again, with an acoustic version of Sugarfree's Burnout playing. The lyrics are basically their whole story. When it goes, "O, kay tagal kitang mamahalin," it meant for me that they'd continue to love each other as best friends regardless of the awkwardness and hurt they just went through. And, man, if that's not a way to combine (1) the music, (2) the context, (3) the characters, and (4) the drinking to cap the whole movie off!

Here's the Rappler performance of that version of Burnout. Prepare your tissues because DEM HARMONIES.

What didn't work

They really could've chosen a better title. I mean, I get the point of it, but I feel it kind of cheapens the movie and alienates some of the audience at the onset. I personally was unwilling to watch this and was only really interested because I heard there was a Heneral Luna short in the beginning (which was GREAT btw; my heart, my mind, and my spirit are ready for #Goyo2018 MAKE IT TREND), but wow, I got so much more. I don't think changing the title would've "saved" this movie from its (so far, what looks to be a) short-lived run, but I definitely would've seen it sooner and had time to make more people watch if it had.

Also, I'm from UP so I felt extra connected to this movie, but I don't know if it reaches non-UP audiences in quite the same way. It's one thing to think of Paulo Avelino as a UP graduate, and a whole other thing to see him in an actual sablay. I can't even really explain it, but it made me go, "Huh. Paulo Avelino in a sablay." the first time I watched the movie, haha. Also, things like MRR might go over people's heads. Still, I've talked to several non-UP people about it, and they seemed to like it just as well!

And lastly, to end on a light note, this is a world where the John Lloyd song (Lloydy by Shirebound and Busking) exists - implying his status symbol as the "Regular" Guy Every Girl Wants. This status was only solidified in the advent of One More Chance, which starred... Maja Salvador. How do these conflicting universes co-exist?! Is Maja Salvador Carson's doppelganger? Is John Lloyd's rise to fame so inevitable that some other movie got him the same status? WHO KNOWS!


In conclusion (as if this wasn't long enough), this movie is a great balance of many things, but is a simple story at its core. With its overall realistic portrayal of the plot, good casting, and poignant cinematic moments, this is definitely a film to be proud of.