When I first saw the trailer of 'My Father, Myself', I was not surprised by the immediate backlash it had because of the salaciousness of the material. However, for a jaded soul like me, I immediately thought of Woody Allen as probably the source material for this movie, although here, the main characters are, well, closeted homosexuals.
To those who are not privy to Woody Allen, just google Soon-Yi Previn and Woody Allen and find out that reality is more f***ed up than fiction.
The secrets and lies that the characters in this movie are keeping are all potential time bombs which could explode now that the central protagonists are already adults. The script though sounded tedious and repetitive and I think this type of movie would've worked better if it followed a "show, don't tell" format. Subtlety could've helped in putting tension among the family members but instead, scene after scene is the usual "Why haven't you told Papa yet" and explanations that are quite redundant.
Anyhow, that is one part which I think could've improved the movie immensely - showing it in the actions of the characters and just allowing the viewer to figure things out - maybe like what Luca Guadagnino did in "Call Me By Your Name" - he just allowed the two male leads to fall in love - and the younger man's father figured it out - as he dished that amazing dialogue towards the end of the movie.
I like Dimples Romana's performance although she could've done more if they just allowed her character to show her feelings as she continues to discover what a creep her husband is.
I also like Tiffany Grey although she had the most repetitive parts of the script. Her cluelessness and naivete showed throughout the movie before the part where she discovers the truth.
For a gay man like me, I could sense that Jake Cuenca was still deciding how he could portray the Dad with secrets. Sometimes his 'gayness' shows, sometimes, he becomes straight. I don't think gay men have that 'faucet' in ourselves to just turn it off at will. There will always be uneasiness and awkwardness when we have to be who we are not.
This is the first time I have seen Sean de Guzman and he's palaban considering he's acting with Jake who's a seasoned actor. His gay character though is a bit butch and it would've been fun if the screenwriter added a bit of real gayness to him which he has to hide - like maybe a crush on another handsome lawyer - or listening to Beyonce or Taylor Swift - or knowing Prada and LV. I know they can be cliches but gay men are cliches and we have common interests which kind of show that we are 'queens'. It would've been fun to see how Sean would navigate that more complex character.
Even then, I still like the movie. Now that I've seen the work of the younger directors, admittedly, the directing style of Joel Lamangan can be a bit dated and flat. In a younger director's hand, the movie may find the freshness of context and point of view because as I said, this is a ticking time bomb story. You could go either way - use Mike Leigh's understated style or Luca Guadagnino's show not tell style - or go full blast and do Todd Field's style of letting the character crash and burn.
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