In “Ngayon Kaya” Paulo Avelino and Janine Gutierrez offer low-key charming performances on the big screen, while Prime Cruz’s direction of Jen Chuaunsu’s musically delectable time-travelling script juggles the idea of reality getting in the way of romance.
Caution, major spoilers ahead.
Music, when used as a device in films, offer a double-edged sword to elicit emotions from the audience. The effect of the music of Mayonnaise in another film called Cleaners has allowed me to transport back in time to the band’s release of their first album in 2004, where the said film’s time is also set. I was in high school and their songs from that album struck a chord to when I got my first heartbreak, to feeling and reeling into that sadness all the way to college.
The same can be said when Ngayon Kaya used their song Bakit Pt. 2 in one of the scenes. If you had lived in 2004, you would understand that the songs Jopay and the heartbreaking Bakit Pt. 1 and 2 were anthems of our lives. I mean, seriously it was one of the best years of OPM. The lyrics of both songs represented our youth, where the only screen time we had was in front of the television daydreaming about our hopes and dreams of the future; the sweet saccharine lyrics of the two songs portray a tricky reality that rose-colored glasses could not hide.
Following the non-linear narrative of two college friends, AM (played by Janine Gutierrez) and Harrold (Paulo Avelino) reunite in their friends’ wedding (that of Donna Cariaga and Alwyn Uytingco). We quickly get a grasp on the tension they felt during their first meet as the next scene jumps to their college days. In a simple call and recall, present time Harrold is seen driving and offers AM a ride, but in their flashback in college it is AM who is seen driving a car and offering Harold a ride.
With this, the usual premise of romcom that Jen Chuaunsu is “supposed” to offer her scripts, and Prime’s stealthy direction to it, is once again broken when they decide to put the characters’ socio-economic status to the forefront of their story (i.e. in Isa Pa With Feelings, another film of the Prime-Jen duo, rather than prancing around the fact that the neighbors would fall in love, we sympathize with the characters’ struggles first: one losing her motivations to pursue her professions; while the other faces the difficulties of being deaf in a non-deaf world). Ngayon Kaya begins to feel more real than reel even at the start of the film when we see that the world topsy-turvies and the socio-economic status between the two has changed.
Having spent time together in college does not necessarily convey a euphoric sense of bond, but for some reason, the two leads do. AM, a rich girl living in Manila decides one day to form a band with Harrold, a young man struggling to juggle his studies and his part-time job as a waiter to sustain the household. They call it AM/PM, as if a bit of a jab at how different their worlds are from each other. We see that Harrold’s introverted gestures aren’t always because he is shy — rather as an expression of how he finds himself uncomfortable with his companion’s difference in the way he sees the world.
This divide isn’t uncommon anywhere in the Philippines, but the profuse interest that comes with pursuing an artists’ profession is often overlooked, and is only deemed suitable for upper class citizens who can afford it. Immediately we see that Janine Gutierrez has understood so well that her role isn’t to be fantasized about, but rather she portrays what’s like to live the life that others like Harrold would like to have: one that isn’t bound by expectations, but is pushed by her freedom to express her desires and passions. Her optimistic passion as AM evokes a nearly toxic positivity mantra that becomes a blade that hits her back towards the end of the film.
This is a film that is more about a story between lovers or friends, but rather a closer look into the socio-economic status amongst the youth that divide them from their responsibilities and their dreams. Such theme is what Jen and Prime understand so well that they easily describe it repeatedly in their films. But honestly, would you date someone who’s socio-economic status is different than you? My answer to this would vary from the kind of person that I was, but most definitely 60% of the population would probably say no. Given that to date is too expensive for those living in the upper class, and that maybe they would have different tastes, but it might vary. And that’s where Ngayon Kaya might open more doors for discussion.
Paulo Avelino carries Harrold’s character so well, and so understood and many would probably mistakenly compare his role to his character Dio in the 2017 film I’m Drunk, I Love You”. The only similarity between this film and IDILY is that there’s two characters seemingly attempting to get across the wall of friendship to lovers, but Harrold lives beyond the middle-class persona of Dio. True enough to Jen Chuaunsu’s inspiration to the script, the film Blue Jay by Alexander Lehmann, AM and Harrold bounce off from one another, but without ever attempting to convey if they truly are lovers or just friends. Having her script evoke two characters that are honest and real pays off as it can make the audience understand further the frustrations of time and regret.
As we return back to present time, the question remains at present, too: will they, or won’t they? Interestingly, the more we find out the answer, the sadder the film gets in a good way. Towards the end, when they decide to take away the temptation to do a love scene, the higher this film got elevated. Much like in Blue Jay, AM and Harrold attempt to do the unthinkable and not only reminisce on good times, but attempt to relieve what could have been… and leaving it just at that.
Benjamin Tolentino (Editor), and Len Calvo (musical score)’s perfectly balanced choices of edits, music, and Maolen Fadul’s tightly knit production design complete Ngayon Kaya as a Filipino film that’s exciting to watch. Prime Cruz’s choices of nuanced direction of the film and how he teases reality in the romcom, along with Jen Chuaunsu’s well-versed script, makes Ngayon Kaya a film to look out for this year. Save your seats in the cinema for Mayonnaise’s live performance within the film, and of course, for the intangible dynamic that Paulo Avelino and Janine Gutierrez project on screen.
Let this film remind you of the best or worst times of your life. It does seem to beg the question, what if you could travel back in time? Would the timing then be perfect?
BONUS: A few scenes from this film remind me of others, like when AM asks Harrold if he’s OK to be late, which sounds like an indirect opposite to Before Sunset’s final scene where instead of getting to his plane, Jesse doesn’t (and leaves his wife for Celine, and then it becomes an argument in the Before Midnight boom! That’s another complications of reality for a different topic at a different time); and the Rules of Attraction poster in AM’s bedroom, where the actual film does tackle college love-lives and the complications that comes with it. And of course, HARROLD which might actually be derived from When Harry Met Sally, a film about two friends falling in love and meeting at different times in their lives, but those two did end up together, these ones? Who knows, perhaps in a different timeline.
Ngayon Kaya opens in PH cinemas June 22.
