Everything About Her (a 2016 Filipino film currently streaming on Netflix) is about second chances and forgiveness, with a life-threatening illness triggering the resolve to correct past mistakes, make amends, and forgive. It sounds heavy but thankfully, the movie presents it in a light drama infused with comedy, providing the actors enough space to work around their wounded characters, with both depth and substance, without melodrama and histrionics. And yet, the light treatment brings you more to tears.
Property magnate, Vivian Rabaya (Vilma Santos), is a no-nonsense iron lady who hates slow-witted and slow-moving people, always demanding results from her workforce. She is a devil that wears Prada, terrifying her underlings. Deep inside though, she has the heart for the unfortunates such as the street children. Upon learning she has stage 3 cancer, she tries to reconnect with her estranged son Albert (Xian Lim) who abhors her for “abandoning” him over her business and career. She hires a nurse, Jaica (Angel Locsin), who will serve as a bridge between mother and son. Good thing Jaica has an equally strong character as Vivian’s, a toughie who would not let Vivian get rid of her that easily. It turns out Jaica despises her mother too for “abandoning” her family to work overseas. Later on, Vivian’s guilt and Jaica’s disdain for her mother’s absence merge in a dramatic highlight that would make each other understand the feelings of those who leave and of those left behind.
Santos comes up with another award-winning portrayal of Vivian, seamlessly switching from an iron fist to a mother who reaches out to her son without being incoherent in character. Locsin matches Santos’ depth and understanding of a wounded soul, with her comedic moments not feeling awkward despite the gravity of the movie’s theme. Locsin also succeeds in occasional shifts to dramatic curves with much aplomb, again without being disjointed in character. For his part, Lim is good in finally letting her mother know how much he hates her. You can feel his struggle between hating her and loving her. While the power of the film draws from strong performances from its leads, it also moves us to contemplate on our life and our acts; are we doing the right thing; is it worth it?
Kudos to Bb. Joyce Bernal for giving us a movie that, despite its heavy theme, brings out laughter in us before driving us to tears. She also shows through the movie how people from different levels of society can share the same predicaments and similar problems. Finally (I am not saying her past projects were not good, I liked her 10,000 hours), here is a movie that Bernal can be really proud of. Everything About Her is her best film to-date.
The Hungry Film Lover 