Film Review: ON VODKA, BEERS, AND REGRETS

“Tara, shot tayo.”

“Pre, gusto kong mag-inom.”

“Let’s drink till we drop.”

Have you ever been asked by your peer, co-worker or even your best friend to join them in drinking alcohol? It doesn’t matter if it’s for a single bottle of San Miguel Pale Pilsen or a couple of Emperador Light brandy bottles, someone must have invited you or asked you to drink with them. Sometimes, you drink to let go of all the problems life has thrown at you. Sometimes, you drink because your boss hasn’t recognized all of the hard work you have been putting forth every single day. Sometimes, you drink as a means of celebrating the success of your friends or even yourself, that finally you have accomplished something you never knew you could have done. Sometimes, you just feel like it. There’s a million reasons why people drink, and to enumerate every single one means we are opening a gargantuan can of worms. We drink. And before you know it, drinking has become a part of your life, that even without any particular reason to do it, you still drink. Your consumption of alcohol improves day by day, from starting out with a single bottle of beer to eventually finishing a dozen bottles of Bacardi or whatever hard liquor they are serving.

At first, it’s fun. You know, the whole drinking thing. A couple of beers and laughs keep you alive for a certain period of time, then the following day everything is a blur. Almost as if nothing had ever happened. And you can’t get away anymore. You have allowed yourself to be consumed by the burning spirit that smolders your throat and your empty stomach, that even if you try to leave at a certain point, you just keep coming back for more. And more. And more. Sobriety is no longer in your dictionary. We’ve seen this happen in the movies. A couple of examples that come into memory are Leaving Las Vegas (starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue), Crazy Heart (starring Jeff Bridges), and A Star Is Born (just pick the version you prefer, since each version tackles the issue anyway). In Villamor’s first directorial effort for the new decade, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets, alcoholism shines a familiar light on the fudged-up industry of show business, where drinking is escapism at its finest and that love “isn’t” always the answer.

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There is a disjointed vibe in how Villamor stitched the romance between the tandem of Padilla and Santos and the theme of alcoholism. The film unintentionally brushes off the romantic pairing to put its main focus on the struggles of Jane’s addiction and the repercussions that come along with it, despite the romance playing a significant role in the development of Jane. Seemingly existing within the framework of the narrative to catch attention rather than to become a centerpiece, the romance directs the tone of the film on confused measures (as opposed to how Meg Ryan found herself picking up the pieces that she had broken through her addiction because of Andy Garcia in When A Man Loves A Woman). The romance comes into play out of sheer convenience to let Jane walk on a better path rather than an actual reason for her to take action.

Much can be said about Jane’s explicit desire to seek validation from everyone through her behavior (her addiction to alcohol being included). While Francis plays as the complaisant lover, created as a humanistic stratagem for Jane’s road to sobriety, Jane becomes the entire focal point of the film, allowing us to understand her life, from her childhood to her career beginnings to her present status as a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode at any given moment. She carries the weight of the film on her shoulders, but does not let the weight put her down. The film allows its audience to be more engaged to the character of Jane, as the very person everyone can relate to, with Padilla’s multi-dimensional portrayal of the character bringing the emotional essence of the film to life. Jane is not just some alcoholic who has been struggling with life because of all the shizzle that came her way; she is us. She represents a large scale of people who has been stepped on and stabbed in the back by society and by life. And no one can blame her for trying to crave for validation when all her life she was programmed to be that way. We, as a society, have allowed the likes of Jane to exist in this world because we failed to recognize her struggle, her problems and her issues.
Beyond the box of alcoholism and self-validation, the film observes the goings-on in the show business industry, letting us understand the politics and the nature of work that the celebrities associate themselves to on a daily basis. There are those who use their fame and power to control others and those who allow these people to control their every single movement. There are standards and norms that these celebrities are required to follow, that for someone to thrive and grow in a judgmental industry, one has to be fully equipped. In the film, Jane’s lone option to pursue her already dead career as an actress has made her witness the everyday fracas of appealing to casting departments, to autocratic managers and even to fellow actors and actresses. Take out the appeal and one is immediately out of everyone’s equations. On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets is nowhere near the achievements of every film she has produced and directed in the past; however, comparing each film she had made to her most recent work is very much uncalled for. Padilla and Santos had solidified their chemistry through 100 Tula Para Kay Stella and The Day After Valentine’s, and in Villamor’s film they have reached a higher octave, with their honest-to-goodness, decibel-breaking one-two punch that’s sure to leave anyone scarred and bruised. With all of these in mind, my question remains the same after Sid & Aya: Not a Love Story and Ulan: when will Irene Villamor leave the romantic director typecast and explore multitudes of genres and styles? With someone like Villamor existing in the industry to innovate the romance genre along with Antoinette Jadaone and Dan Villegas, there’s a huge possibility that she can also direct something like a horror fest or an action thriller. But till that happens, we have her films to cry and to feel the meaning of love.
Produced by Viva Films, “On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets” is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2-XgxQRJ8w]