J.Lo is a winner

A winner at the box office this week is Enough, starring Jennifer Lopez.

In this drama/action/suspense film, J. Lo is cast as a waitress in a diner who is swept off her feet by a charming customer, Billy Campbell. They marry, have a kid (Tessa Allen) and live in a fabulous house in the suburbs. For a while there, J. Lo thinks she hit the jackpot – until she discovers her husband’s extra-marital affairs. Instead of asking for forgiveness and promising to mend his ways, Campbell even beats her up and threatens her not to leave him... or else.

But J. Lo succeeds in fleeing with her daughter just the same. Life on the run, however, is not easy – she has on her trail goons and even some rotten members of the police force who are all under the employ of her husband. After moving to another state, changing her looks and even her name, she realizes she has had enough. She takes up a crash course in martial arts and – in no time at all – is ready to face her heel of a husband and his henchmen.

Battered wives may watch this and weep. Why? For two reasons: 1) They can’t all be as sexy as Jennifer Lopez. 2) The way J. Lo resolves her problems in the story is only something they can fantasize about. The situations in this film are actually real, but the solutions offered – unfortunately – are not. The movie Enough, in other words, is adult fairy tale – geared only to entertain and, in some ways, teach some (and I really mean just some) tiny, teeny lessons in life along the way.

But this film surely entertains – and how! Each scene is cleverly designed to keep the viewer at the edge of his seat – starting from the time J. Lo and her daughter escape from their home. And then, there are the chase scenes wherein you – as the viewer – runs out of breath as you egg on from your seat J. Lo to run faster. Believe me, this film will manipulate your emotions.

But more than J. Lo, you’ll feel more for her daughter because she’s the one caught in the middle of this marital strife. And Tessa Allen as Jennifer Lopez’ daughter is excellent in this film. She’s cute, all right, but unlike most other child stars, she’s never cloying. Obviously, she was properly coached by the film’s director Michael Apted, who also directed Coal Miner’s Daughter, the movie that gave Sissy Spacek her Oscar Best Actress trophy in 1980.

Too bad, Michael Apted’s handling of Jennifer Lopez here in Enough won’t win an award for the singer-actress. No, J. Lo isn’t really bad in this film. (Apted succeeds in motivating her well.) It’s a difficult role (although physical in most parts) and J. Lo is convincing enough as a woman harassed by the circumstances around her. But sometimes, the amateurism still shows – particularly in scenes where she has to cry and break down.

Over all, however, J. Lo carries the film very well. And you as a viewer will not regret watching Enough (unless your purpose is to watch really cerebral stuff). It’s enough entertainment to last you till your next film.

In the Mood for Love

Viewers who think they are above the Jennifer Lopez type of entertainment have the option to troop to either Greenbelt or Megamall, the two movie theaters that show the Hong Kong film In the Mood for Love.

Released in 2000, this movie by Wong Kar Wai is set in Hong Kong in 1962. Starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, the film casts the two Hong Kong superstars as married people – although not to each other – who form a special bond between them.

Those who expect to see sex in this film are well advised to just stay home and watch their private collection of X-rated CDs and videos. Sorry, but you don’t see any flesh here. In fact, all throughout the film, you patiently wait if Cheung and Leung will ever succumb to the call of lust. But I can’t tell you if their relationship is ever consummated or not.

However, there are a lot of other reasons why you should watch this film. Technically, it is excellently made. Through its superb lighting, cinematography and production design, the early 1960s Hong Kong is magically recreated on the big screen. The film actually captures every mood of the era – especially with the help of Nat King Cole’s Quizaz, Quizaz, Quizaz playing in the background.

The film’s choice of location – a cramped apartment that looks like a Binondo accesoria – adds so much to the movie’s claustrophobic mood, which is important to the flow of the story because the early 1960s were still repressed years. And that is how the characters are in the movie – repressed, no thanks to the dictates of society then.

Watching In the Mood for Love is like reading beautiful literature (well, you actually read because of the English subtitles at bottom of the screen), while at the same time aided by wonderful visuals. It is very entertaining. But unlike Jennifer Lopez’ Enough, which you forget as soon as you watch another film, In the Mood for Love is one movie that you will keep in your treasure trove of memories.