I Will Survive: An intelligent film with humor, drama, etc.

As a local film enthusiast and avid supporter of the Philippine movie industry, I had a really merry Christmas last December when two intelligent comedy films – Mark Meily’s Crying Ladies and Jeffrey Jeturian’s Bridal Shower – did very well during the 2003 Metro Manila Film Festival.

This time, I’m praying for the box office success of I Will Survive by Joel Lamangan. Like Crying Ladies and Bridal Shower, I Will Survive is also an intelligent movie that has humor, drama and even musical numbers.

Written by Ricardo Lee, the film has four major characters – all members of a choral group. Character number one is Maricel Soriano, who plays a conservative wife and mother with an oversexed husband and an equally sexually active teenage son (Richard Gutierrez). Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered Maricel so much even if her traveling salesman husband had strong sexual urges. But the trouble is, he has sex with every other woman – except her. In the end, he even contracts STD and during their one and only moment of pleasure in a long, long time, he passes it on to her.

Character number two is Dina Bonnevie, an ex-beauty queen still admired for her great looks. Her photographer husband, Tonton Gutierrez, worships the ground she walks on and this bothers her because of her need for her own personal space. But this isn’t her major problem. Her daughter, Serena Dalrymple is forever being compared to her and starts to rebel by making herself look uncouth and unattractive.

The third character is Judy Ann Santos, a domestic helper working in Qatar who is married to another OFW (TJ Trinidad) based in Australia. After six years abroad, they both come home for a vacation but are disheartened when their daughter no longer recognizes them. Adding to Judy Ann’s problem is her discovery of her husband’s unfaithfulness during the time they were separated.

Completing the group of friends is Eric Quizon who is gay with two adopted sons. He pretends not to be gay in front of the two boys, but they do suspect – and so does the housemaid (the funny Angie Castrence) who reads Virginia Woolf. Secretly, he meets his lover, a gay cop played by Reggie Curley.

With the humor and the interjection of musical numbers, the mood of I Will Survive is very light. Some of the comedic scenes are really funny, but the humor in some comic situations is trite and falls flat. You cannot, however, accuse this film of insulting the intelligence of the viewers.

What I like best in I Will Survive are the heartwarming moments – of which there are so many (mostly involving the character of Judy Ann Santos).

With four major characters, it must have been difficult for Ricardo Lee to have pieced them together. To his credit, he manages to weave in the stories of all four people neatly into the screenplay. But given the limited screen time, not all the situations are threshed out well. The tightest is the story of Eric Quizon. In the case of Maricel Soriano’s situation, feminists would shout with glee at the way she gets the upper hand in her relationship with husband Jay Manalo.

Dina Bonnevie’s minor problem with husband Tonton Gutierrez, however, is never resolved, but the bigger conflict with daughter Serena Dalrymple is given a happy resolution.

Sadly, it is the story of Judy Ann Santos that is problematic. The way she is able to forgive her erring husband seems to have taken the short cut and the viewers aren’t given a clue on how TJ Trinidad is able to return to his wife’s wounded heart that fast.

Fortunately, this minor lapse in the story doesn’t affect the performance of Judy Ann Santos, who does even a lot better here than in Mano Po 2 for which she was recently crowned Best Supporting Actress in the recently-concluded Golden Screen Awards.

Like Judy Ann Santos, the three other major stars in I Will Survive also give uniformly good performances. Dina Bonnevie is delightful and very convincing (considering that she is still in excellent shape) as the yardstick of beauty. On the part of Eric Quizon, I dare say that he is even better than his father, the great Dolphy, when it comes to playing gay roles – maybe because Eric doesn’t resort to slapstick, which was what was strictly called for in most of Dolphy’s films.

Maricel Soriano, of course, is a veteran comedic actress (aside from excelling in drama), having cut her acting teeth in John & Marsha and, later, in her comic films with William Martinez (Pabling, Galawgaw, etc.). But here in I Will Survive, you will see an even better and far more mature comedic actress in Maricel Soriano. Watch the film and you will see what I mean.

Director Joel Lamangan also succeeds in drawing inspired performances from the supporting cast: Pilita Corrales (as the den mother of the choral group members), Richard Gutierrez, Serena Dalrymple (the youngest Urian Best Supporting Actress winner so far), Jay Manalo, Tonton Gutierrez, Reggie Curley, TJ Trinidad and Jay Aquitania as the adopted son of Eric Quizon.

I Will Survive is not exactly a flawless film. Sure, it has its little faults. But overall, it is a very good film and makes for great viewing.

While I write this, I still have no idea how the film is faring at the box office. (It was given a B rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board). But I do hope it becomes a commercial success.

As we did for Crying Ladies and Bridal Shower, we should also support I Will Survive because films like these are those that will keep the dying local movie industry alive – and yes, survive.