Reel Good Time

By Dyan Zarzuela

With all the typhoons that are likely to come our way this sem break, we’re prone to become couch potatoes. What better way to utilize those lazy days than with some good old love stories on DVD? After all, with the rainy days come the perfect senti moments. Might as well emote with Penny Lane, Clementine and company.

First in our list is Almost Famous. It’s not really a love story per se but you can’t deny that it’s about love—love for music, bandmates, band aids, family and friends. This semi-autobiography of its director Cameron Crowe tells the story of 15-year old William Miller writing a story on rock band Stillwater for the Rolling Stone. It is on the tour with them that he falls in love, loses his virginity and does almost everything his mother told him not to do. Scenes to be played again and again are the one where guitarist Russell Hammond jumps off a roof into a pool after screaming “I am a golden god,” the one where Penny Lane responds with “What kind of beer?” after William tells her that her married boyfriend Russell lost her to a band for $50 and a case of beer, and, of course, the tell-all airplane scene.

Next is the beautifully chaotic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which tells the story of how Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) struggles to preserve his memories about girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) that he paid to be removed after finding out that Clementine had her memories about them removed. The disorienting timeline and unfinished resolution of the film reflect the nature of love. Most memorable scenes are the one wherein Joel, instead of fighting when his last memory was about to be erased, decides to enjoy the moment and the open-ended ending scenes.

Third is from the local arena, the fairly recent A Love Story, a love triangle between Ian Montes (Aga Muhlach), Joanna Villanueva (Maricel Soriano) and Karyn Torres (Angelica Panganiban). Trailers of the movie deliberately did not say who the third party was (“When does a wife become a mistress, and a mistress become a wife?”) and it isn’t until around halfway into the movie that she is revealed. The acting is natural, simple and moving; the script wonderful. Scenes to watch out for are the questions-only games between Ian and Karyn and the final confrontation between Ian and Joanna.
For the next one, we delve into the fantasy world of Never Never Land. A respite from the heaviness of the previously mentioned movies, Peter Pan (2003) portrays the untainted love between friends and blossoming puppy love. It’s a feel-good movie with a definite ending and where the good guys win, giving breathing room from all the questions left by the previous movies.

And last would be 50 First Dates which tells the story of how Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) made his girlfriend with short-term memory loss Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) fall in love with him everyday. This is sure to lighten dreary rainy days; just seeing Sandler’s laughing head is bound to do that. Best scenes are the different ways Henry courted Lucy and Henry serenading Lucy with the song Forgetful Lucy.

We finish with a relatively happy movie because, really, all that emo has to stop at one point.