The sound of silence

Film review: Isa Pa, With Feelings

MANILA, Philippines — “Silence isn’t empty, it’s full of answers,” said a poster in my elementary school library. In Isa Pa, With Feelings (IPWF), silence speaks volumes, more than words.

IPWF is a quiet movie, mostly interactions between the two leads, one of whom is deaf. And so, the story develops in sign language, in symbolisms, in facial expressions and in soundless scenes. This, in itself, is an achievement.

Maine Mendoza is Mara, who works in an architectural firm while reviewing for the board. An honor student, her carpenter father (Cris Villanueva) expects a lot from her. In her spare time, the better to communicate with her deaf niece, Mara takes sign language lessons from Gali (Carlo Aquino), who is himself deaf.

Against all expectations, Mara flunks. Driving home still stunned from her failure, she hits a car belonging to — of all people — Gali, who turns out to be living next door to her condo. From the accident, they become fast friends, start hanging out with each other, and before they know it, they fall in love. How they navigate the treacherous trip through a life replete with contentious situations caused by their fundamental differences, make up the substance of the movie.

It that were all, the movie would have been just another romantic fluff, with the added twist of the male lead being deaf. But while simple in story, it is complex in character. The writers imbued both protagonists with back stories that make the viewer understand why they do what they do. Coupled with a most skillful execution by director Prime Cruz, the result is a film of extraordinary emotion that lingers long after one has exited the theater.

It is easy to be overly histrionic in a drama concerning a person with disability, but IPWF shows uncharacteristic restraint. Storytelling is lean and shorn of non-essentials. Dialogue is sparse, but not due to Gali’s condition; rather, the acting and imagery are so rich that much is conveyed non-verbally. Using light and dance as symbols for the fact that in the world of the deaf, sight and movement must substitute for sound, the movie traces the trajectory of the two lovers’ relationship. Starting slow, the action accelerates to a powerful third act that brings the film to its emotional apogee.

Those old enough to have seen 1986’s Children Of A Lesser God (COALG), starring the iconic William Hurt and Marlee Matlin, which also tells the story of a love affair between a hearing and a deaf person, cannot help but notice the parallelisms in IPWF: The name of Mendoza’s character, Mara (similar to Marlee’s “Sara”); the use of dance as allegory; and Gali climbing a balcony to Mara’s condo (in the same way that William’s character climbed a tree to reach Sara). All these are not to imply that the writers of IPWF are not original; it only means that they are cinema enthusiasts who know how to make proper homage to their inspirations.

What sets this film apart from COALG, and the lightweight Crazy Moon (1987) is that, while in the two latter movies the actresses who played the deaf characters (Marlee and Vanessa Vaughn, respectively) were really deaf, Carlo is not. This is what gives rise to a real challenge to Carlo’s acting acumen. I am happy to report that he was up to it. While his excellent thespic skills are a given, Carlo has exceeded himself, and his contemporaries, in this movie. Given absolutely no spoken lines at all, Carlo conveyed feelings and emotions the way the great silent movie players did, by acting with his eyes, his body and every muscle in his face. The result is an award-worthy performance where every twitch of the mouth, every dilation of the eyes, every movement of the brow attains significance.

The great revelation is Maine. Having seen two of her innocuous movies, My Bebe Love (2015) and Jack em Popoy (2018), I have always thought that she was a natural, albeit lacking in depth (not that the said movies provide space to flex one’s acting muscles). But in IPWF, Maine displayed such a commendable combination of emotional gravity amidst controlled acting, that her transformation from comedienne to a real dramatic artist is nothing short of stunning. Verily, in IPWF, Maine has graduated from star to actress. A brief scene where Mara wordlessly expresses to her mother (Lotlot de Leon) her heartbreak after a quarrel with Gali, is a succinct showcase of the skills she has acquired.

In the film’s pivotal antepenultimate scene, where the couple struggles with the disparity between them, Mara assures Gali that “I will be deaf for you.” This movie invites us to be deaf for Gali, in order for us to realize that in the world of the speechless, every gesture must be coupled with feelings, lest the meaning be lost in the absence of sound. In presenting us with a work of multi-layered implications, Prime has given us an instant classic. Proving that truly, silence makes its own unique sound.