Chino S. Roño’s The Trial is a welcome enlightenment to our native mainstream cinema—the kind that pushes boundaries and rediscovers for its audience elements other than what they have long since grown accustomed to; the kind that tries to push through somewhat fresher material; the kind that will not conform to filmic constraints; the kind that actively refuses such constraints, which is simply a separate classification. And perhaps that is just it: welcome as its daring is, The Trial feels ultimately muddled with indispensible caveats.
This active refusal and swerving away from the native normality are not (and should not be) indicative of the film’s craft. To get it out of the way: Roño’s work here as film director reflects a terrific technician and efficient storyteller whose skills have been honed in years of disciplined work of studio filmmaking. But then enters the sidenote, which is, again, you know, welcome—the film’s seeming embrace at unconventionality.
Is there a difference betweenactively striving for unconventional elements and passively letting a well-written story subvert said conventions? Yes there is, and the dividing line is thread-like thin. With a plot that is curious (and exhaustive) in keeping unconventionally un-mainstream, The Trial seems to fall on the former category.
The story surrounds a developmentally delayed man named Ronald (John Lloyd Cruz) whose romantic advances to his tutor Bessie (Jessie Mendiola) incriminates him of rape, a case that is to be filed against him, hence the film’s title. In such an innocuous setup one could build much confidence on how Roño can elevate the film or by least give it due justice. He does—if only to an extent.
The original screenplay by Ricky Lee rings an unmistakable auctorial note (it is interesting that Mendiola’s character is named after a main character from his debut novel Para Kay B); it is rather sparse or patient or both in the first half, building up individual characters who are, like in the thin-spine novels, to meet at a crossroads of sorts—in this case Ronald’s trial. The latter half grows somewhat tiresome (it could have been worse were the film not aided by terrific performances) and laborious, forced into melodramatic narrative framings.
There are three families whose stories pivot around the film. Ronald’s family is distraught by his subpoena; that of Ronald’s best friend, Martin (Enrique Gil), is dysfunctional; and that of Bessie is simply disaffected. It is not a question of gender or social class but of actual parenthood. There is very little parents know about their children and much littler that they understand. In the film’s most affecting scene, Martin’s parents, Amanda (Gretchen Barretto) and Julian (Richard Gomez), are given closure in a sequence that unsubtly parallels that of Martin’s fatal accident—Ronald’s monologue on “harmony” resonates here. Forgiveness. Vivian Velez portrays Lallie Laperal, Bessie’s leery self-centered aunt who is to do whatever it takes to save her business, exploit her niece if she must.
Towards the end, The Trial, as ever with mainstream melodramas, feels the luxury of closure requisite. By cramming it with much unconventionality (the gay-lesbian couple, played respectively by Vince de Jesus and Sylvia Sanchez, for instance, feels side-lined and often resumes as comic relief, save for Sanchez’s breakdown early on), the film seems to challenge conventions for all the wrong reasons, bringing to question whether it could ever find the voice to communicate its messages when bombarded by these unconventionalities.
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THE TRIAL
Chino S. Roño / PH / 2014
Drama / 140 min. / R(-13)
Screenplay: Ricky Lee
Cast: John Lloyd Cruz, Gretchen Baretto, Richard Gomez, Jessie Mendiola, Vivian Velez, Sylvia Sanchez..
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the film in one line of dialogue:
“Eh, kung puso…bakit blue?”
~Amanda Bien (Gretchen Barreto)
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