"Tayo Sa Huling Buwan ng Taon:Di Na."

 "Tayo Sa Huling Buwan ng Taon:Di Na."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

"Napanood ko na ito" My wife told me. "But I want you to watch it with me because there was something really confusing about the end."

This was an invitation from my wife that I cannot refuse so over lunch we watched this story unfold.

Synopsis:

"Five years after their break-up, ex-lovers turned friends Sam and Isa attempt to find their own selves in the realm of their respective romantic relationships. What they discover instead is pain and uncertainty as they come to terms with their feelings for each other and everyone around them."

Yes I copied that synopsis because this seems to be what the story is pushing the viewers to think.They are framing your mind to have the expectation that this story will evolve around these two people who have been broken up for 5 years. Instead what you are thrust into is the world that they have been in 5 years into that past relationship.

The movie feels like you started at the middle instead of the logical start. There are many things to like about this movie , the dialogue is as natural as can be. The characters are believable , charming and even interesting even if it shows them in their every day lives. Both couples are happy where they are. They have been making plans.They have been living their lives.

However if you have not read that synopsis about these people broken up you would have thought that you were watching a different love story. Two stories that will eventually converge but stories that are reaching a conclusion.

Bear in mind that this story happens in a span of a week. The last week before the New Year.Spoilers ahead if you have not watched it. One incident triggers all of their happy lives to unravel. And for what?

The scene where Sam and Isa are finally alone and Sam just blurts out "What happened to us?" And you can see that he is in pain and Isa is also in pain as all these pent up feelings bubble up to the surface. This scene where they were waiting for a Jeepney ride in Manila. You know that they are in pain you somehow feel disconnected from this pain that they are experiencing as up to this point you really have no idea what actually occured to both of them that caused them to break up or live seperate lives. 

Sure it is hinted in the dialogue but it all falls short somehow and what results is a disconnected feeling from what is going on in the scene. It seemed like for all the build up of happy lives and plan for the future all of that falls apart in the face of unspoken feelings.

Tayo sa Huling Buwan ng taon....Seperate and Isolated from everyone else who should be loving us because of things that we did not resolve earlier. I just find it a bit preposterous that  people who have been loving us change in a span of a week. And that in the same people who used to have happy lives end up where they were 5 years ago. Alone and Sad.

Oh and that scene where My wife was confused about? It is all tied up neatly with this poem. The same poem that was being recited at the beginning of the film and was again recited at the end of the film. And like a cursed cycle , Sam finds himself alone as he had been at the beginning of the film.