McRomance
Today I am a happy moviegoer. I saw Endo, a story of modern love set in the world of temp labor. (Endo is not the Japanese author. It is short for “end of contract”. Temporary staff at fast-food restaurants, department stores, and supermarkets are employed for only three or four-month periods; this way their employers avoid giving them benefits such as social security and medical care.) Leo (Jason Abalos) is a good-looking, rather aimless young man who shuttles from one McJob to another; he doesn’t have the time or inclination to think about what he wants out of life. He just lets things happen to him—in his relationships, it’s the girls who take the lead. Then he meets Tanya (Ina Feleo), a fellow temp who has plans and dreams, and is not afraid to pursue them. Essentially it’s the story of a boy who realizes that he’s been a passive minor character in his own life, and must step up to be the lead actor.
Sure it doesn’t sound like a very ambitious premise for a movie, but it’s what filmmakers do with their premise that makes a movie fly. Endo flies because everything about it feels real. Its characters are the “invisible” people—the waiter who brings your coffee, the hotel staff who changes the towels, the salesgirl who gets the shoes in your size. The tables are turned; you eavesdrop on them. Writer-director Jade Castro nails his characters and their milieu. He has an ear for the nuances of everyday speech, and his cast tosses off the dialogue with excellent timing. The leads are delightful: you can identify each emotion as it flits across Jason Abalos’ face, and Ina Feleo manages to be tough and vulnerable, plain and beautiful at the same time. She can take a hackneyed line and make it sound fresh. There’s a scene that would normally make me run screaming out of the theatre, but these two make it work. Great work by the supporting cast, particularly the opportunistic ex-girlfriend and the younger brother. Jade Castro directs with intelligence and restraint: there are many things left unsaid, but we get them loud and clear.
Screenings of Endo at Cinemalaya at CCP: 24 July at 6.15pm, 25 July at 9pm, 26 July at 12.45pm, 27 July at 12.45pm, and 28 July at 9pm. (There are no screenings today, Monday.) For full screening schedules, visit the Cinemalaya site.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 24th, 2007 at 11:55
I have been a contractual worker–before, during and right after college–in private corporations (no mccorp though). I always had social security and health insurance.
Now, I know people and are friends with some of them who are board passers and even have master’s degree. They have been working for the government as instructors, laboratory technicians and R&D staff. Yet for the last five to ten years, they are still on part-time and/or contractual status. They do not have social security or health insurance.