who is rosario?!
So we watched Rosario too. Honestly, when I saw the trailer, I thought "Wow, great production value--oh God, please don't let this be Baler again."
If you remember, Baler was that movie with Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales that looked SO gorgoeous and promising from the trailer. Then we watched it and felt like we wasted two hours of our precious lives. Two hours of waiting and waiting while they scrambled to focus on somethning--the love story? The soldiers? I can't remember anything about it now except Jao Mapa's pathetic crying scene.
Anyway, I got worried when the official trailer of Rosario showed nothing but snippets of gorgeous shots, without revealing a story. Who was Rosario, indeed? What was her significance? Why did Dolphy feel the need to tell her story to her apo, MVP? Usually, in movies that center on one person, that person has done something to deserve a movie dedicated to their life.
So quick plot recap! (SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS):
Hesus (played by Dolphy) is an old man who lives with practically nothing, and since he's tired of depending on his children for money, he wants to approach his wealthy nephew Manny V. Pangilinan for...well, I thought money, but after the movie, I don't know why he approached his nephew. When MVP agrees to see him, Hesus begins to tell him who his mother was. Rosario, MVP's lola was a liberal young woman educated in the States. When she came home to her father's hacienda in Isabela, she fell in love with the hacienda administrator, Vicente. When their father discovers their relationship, the whole family leaves the hacienda out of shame, Vicente gets the living hell beat out of him, and Rosario is deposited in a convent. But the two elope to Manila anyway, where they have kids and Rosario, apparently, discovers that her true happiness is being with her kids.
After some years, Vicente gets tuberculosis though, and Rosario gets seduced by her cousin's boyfriend Alberto. She gives in, and although she tries to end it, the affair is discovered and Vicente sues for adultery. (I didn't know you could do that back then!) The pair is found guilty and exiled to Hong Kong for some three years. When they return, they board at a house owned by Don Miguel. His nephew, Carding, is immediately infatuated with Rosario and follows her around with puppy dog eyes. Alberto abandons them and takes his gorgeous abs away forever.
Because Rosario can barely pay rent, Don Miguel propositions a little something-something to erase her debt. When Carding comes home to find that Don Miguel, he is so enraged that attacks his uncle and nearly kills him. Carding pleads Rosario to run away with him, and Rosario almost does. She realizes, however, that the last time eloped with Vicente, she hurt her parents so much. So she decides not to run away with Carding. (HUH?) Hesus summarizes that his mother died without being able to atone for her sins and hopes that by telling this story, he is able to get forgiveness for her. (Wait. HUH???)
While there was, indeed, a story, the movie was just a straight forward storytelling. It felt like the story was told in this manner: "This is what happened. And then, this happened. And then, this happened. And then, this happened. And then, this happened." Major editing and tightening could have been done to the script for improvement, which is why the movie felt so unnecessarily long. There were a lot of incredibly short, para-lang-mapakita-na-nangyari scenes, and the annoying thing is that they were sandwiched between fade in-fade out transitions. I was reminded of the plays we used to put on in Zobel.
Unfortunately, for a movie named for her, there was not enough development for Rosario's character. When we discover the whole "point" why Hesus tells her story, we're like, "HEH?! Um. Okay." Because the movie just told us "this is what happened", it was unable to establish that Rosario was consumed her whole life by her "sins" and not being able to ask for forgiveness. Also, Hesus says that Rosario's happiness was her kids. In the whole movie, the kids were practically props. There was no real relationship built between them.
Come to think of it, she barely paid attention to Hesus! The men played a much bigger role. As well as her cigarettes.
Best Supporting Actor should have gone to the cigarettes. It felt so Mad Men. She was kinda channeling Betty Draper.
Seriously, the beginning of the movie felt oh-so-Lifetime Channel: independent young woman, ready to rock the conservative boat and stand by her principles despite social pressures. However, it dragged on and started to feel like a soap opera...and THEN, at the end, we discover that it wanted to be like the movie Atonement. Oh, but no. Still, because of the soap opera characteristics, we were entertained by the dishy drama and the story that (slowly) unfolded.
And Oh my God, Dennis Trillo. LORD. I'm sorry, old habits die hard, but LORD.
Two words: RAIN SCENE. Kamusta naman ang abs natin. The next time my car breaks down, I want him to *try* and get the car started again. DAMN.
The production team did not disappoint though. From the swanky dinner (complete with a lip synching Desiree Del Valle) to the provincial parade, from the hacienda to the vintage cars, production was done quite well. My favorites were definitely from the early parts of the movie, when it was still set in Isabela. I loved the shots of the group of farmers having their lunch in the field, Rosario sitting grandly on the chaise lounge at the foot of her bed, and a couple of street shots. Cinematography was good too, I saw interesting compositions and combinations.
The styling has gotten a lot of flak from some of the local bloggers. Honestly, Jennelyn's hair looked too stiff, some eye work was unflattering (especially on Ara Mina), and YES, Philip Salvador's moustache was hilarious, but personally they were easily forgivable. (Okay, not Philip Salvador's moustache. HAHA) To be fair, I don't know a lot about fashion history, and with the clothes, the sets, props, and the sprinkle of Spanish in the script, you could easily imagine it being in the '20s-'30s already. I think my imagination can work with a few pieces of cheap jewelry. I'm happy enough with it, and with Albert Martinez' direction too! Good jobbers.
Despite the disappointing storytelling, I don't regret that I watched Rosario naman. (It's no Baler, for one thing!) No doubt I was entertained. It was beautifully done and I appreciate the effort. I'm happy that we're slowly going back to films like this. I think we're starved for it. I remember the heyday of the MMFF, when films like Rizal, Tatarin, and Tanging Yaman were made, and as of late, all we've had to choose from were rehashes of Enteng Kabisote and Shake Rattle and Roll. I hope to watch RPG Metanoia next!
