John Lloyd Cruz in Notting Hell
Emotional Weather Report, today in the Philippine Star.
Notting Hill montage from Distractions of Lola.
Every year we do a round-up of the Philippine movie industry and for the last four years it’s been the same story. The same movie, the same director, and the same actor.
The movie is Notting Hill. You choke on your coffee: “That’s not a Filipino movie.” No, it is a British-made romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant that made a gazillion dollars in 1999. It has also become the template for the box-office blockbuster rom-coms churned out by the leading Filipino movie studio of the last decade, Star Cinema.
Look at the formula. Good-looking, rather befuddled Boy meets pretty, strong-willed independent Girl. There is an immediate attraction-repulsion but the repulsion quickly vanishes, to the detriment of the plot. Egged on by their wacky and endearing friends who live only to comment on the protagonists’ romance, Boy and Girl move towards couplehood. (At least in the Notting Hill-Four Weddings school the friends/supporting characters are allowed to have characters.)
Boy may pursue Girl, but Girl really takes the lead. Someone makes a proposal, it is accepted, and they expect to live happily ever after. . .but wait! A crisis arises that threatens to tear them apart. As crises go it is inconsequential and easily resolved, but the protagonists and their one-note friend chorus go into High Drama Mode. They treat the silly non-crisis as if global warming had escalated insanely and the homeless polar bears will eat us tomorrow. They break up.
Almost the second Boy and Girl break up the universe starts conspiring to throw them back together. The friend chorus watches the protagonists mope around, and make clear through their facial expressions or actual statements that the only thing that can re-freeze the polar ice caps is for Boy and Girl to get back together.
Initial attempts at reconciliation are half-heartedly rebuffed; once you switch to High Drama Mode you can’t switch it off without giving yourself vertigo. Finally Boy realizes that he has been, in the words of the Hugh Grant character, “a daft prick”, and makes a sensational last-ditch attempt to get Girl back.
In the original of this species, Hugh Grant gatecrashes the press conference, gets hold of the microphone, and declares his passion (in that trademark diffident manner) to Julia Roberts and, incidentally, a hall full of reporters. In the Pinoy popcorn version (though Filipino moviegoers also eat Chickenjoy at the cinema, and I have the urge to run out and get Chickenjoy myself) Boy declares his passion for Girl in the most public venue possible, such as a crowded MRT station or Luneta.
Sometimes it is a spontaneous occurrence, sometimes he has to hire a flatbed truck and musicians. Girl is blown away by his willingness to embarrass himself in front of total strangers, and falls into his arms. And those strangers who have never seen them before and have absolutely no idea what’s going on say “Awwww” and applaud the blissful couple. Who then fall onto the train tracks and get squished in a surprise hommage to Anna Karenina. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant at the movies in Notting Hill
Yes that took too long, we were entertaining ourselves. (Try writing the same annual report over and over again.)
The director is Cathy Garcia Molina, who has helmed the top-grossing Filipino movie of the year for the last four years. In 2010 she directed the number one movie My Amnesia Girl, and the number two movie Miss You Like Crazy. Garcia Molina has a light touch, which we appreciate because traditional Pinoy movies tend to hammer away at the audience screaming, “Did you get that? Did you get that? Should we repeat it?” She is a deft director of comedies, and her products are unarguably entertaining. This director knows what the viewers want, and what they want is “kilig”.
“Kilig” is the thrill the audience gets when Boy and Girl express their feelings for each other. They may do this intentionally, for instance by reciting a line like “You had me at my best and she had me at my worst” (famous quote from a Cathy Garcia Molina movie). Or they may do it unwittingly, such as when they are so overcome by the sight of the beloved that they step into an elevator shaft. (Incidentally there is no English word for “kilig”; the nearest equivalent is the French “frisson”.)
The actor is, of course, John Lloyd Cruz. He is the star of the aforementioned top two of 2010, and of the number one movie of 2009, 2008, and 2007. In fact we could’ve saved ourselves the trouble of doing a yearly round-up and just summed up the local movie industry thus: John Lloyd Cruz, John Lloyd Cruz, John Lloyd Cruz.
Apart from movies John Lloyd Cruz appears in many ads and television programs, courting overexposure, yet the audience does not tire of him. He comes across not as a movie star but as a real person: cute, but not cloying. Although he has been consigned to the hell of Notting Hill remakes (Notting Hell?) and has not had a chance to show his range, we see glimmers of brilliance. Note his subtle-funny-poignant turn as the gay boyfriend in In My Life.
Our friend, a recent convert to fandom, puts it thus: John Lloyd Cruz is brilliant because he can utter the most bloodcurdling bogus line in the most hackneyed situation to the most insipid girl, and you believe him. In the phoniest production he will be the one true thing. That’s why John Lloyd Cruz is a star.
But what about the indies, you ask? What’s an annual industry round-up that does not mention the Filipino indies reaping awards at international film festivals? That is another formula altogether, and the subject of another report.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 27th, 2011 at 06:12
Oh my, why do I feel that Jessica Zafra just gave John Lloyd Cruz the kiss of death in this post?
February 27th, 2011 at 13:24
Wala ka pa ring mintis, Miss Zafra! Hahahaha!!! I can’t wait for the indie report :-)
February 27th, 2011 at 16:31
I remembered you writing about the Regine Velasquez-Robin Padilla starrer,”Kailangan ko’y ikaw” as Notting Hill’s Filipino version, dubbing it Pedro Gil LOL. Blast from the past, Notting Hill makes a comeback via John Lloyd Cruz’ films also known as Lloydie flicks.
I just had to ask: When did John Lloyd Cruz start to happen? I am mystified — mystified because 10 years ago he was a part of this trio the Coolitz or whatever then he was in the bastardized version of Dawson’s Creek, Tabing Ilog, paired up with Kaye Abad and there he looked like her father than her boyfriend.
Now, for the past 4 years, he has been raking it in more than Piolo Pascual, Dingdong Dantes, Jericho Rosales and Richard Gutierrez. Enlighten me please.
I think I’m going to watch Notting Hill later…with Chicken Joy!
February 27th, 2011 at 17:07
Thank you, Madame, for explaining my eerie pull towards that John Lloyd Cruz. I am a secret fan of that kid when he’s in his element. He should stop surrounding himself with those near-talentless ASAP posers, but I suppose he needs them for some reason.
And, like Parlor Lover, I am also looking forward to your Indie Report.
Muahness from Pasig Citehh!
February 27th, 2011 at 18:28
I remember this movie starring John Lloyd and Sarah Geronimo which was filled with product placements from a pizza company and a paracetamol brand. While John Lloyd was embarassing himself in public and declaring his love for Sarah on the streets of Makati, I tuned out and made the following observations: a) why is it raining very hard when it was obviously a very bright and warm afternoon?; b) Sarah was running in the rain, why is her hair completely dry and perfectly coifed?; c) John lloyd was running in the rain, why is his hair completely dry?; d) the extras are also dry and it’s supposed to be raining hard; e) why is the pavement dry? and f) is it me or is the rain just limiting itself to the couple’s umbrella?
February 27th, 2011 at 22:02
# 5 the chronicler of boredom — Haha, fantastic recall for the most useful details. In a movie with Sarah Geronimo in it, those are the kind of details that we look out for. The dog-locked Lloydie can do the acting for the two of them. Sarah’s there for her mostly unwashed fans.
February 27th, 2011 at 23:18
Sarah can sing and deliver dialogue, which is more than you can say of many so-called actors. Also her management had the sense to hire an excellent stylist.
February 28th, 2011 at 00:02
If I may, the last 2 John Lloyd Cruz-Sarah Geronimo movies I’ve watched on big screen, but the one I get to watch over and over (because of a DVD borrowed from a friend) is One More Chance, the John Lloyd Cruz-Bea Alonzo flick. I watch it for medicinal purposes: my eyes are dried out and I need to induce tears.
Unfortunately, current events can’t do that to me anymore. I yawn and that’s about it. But this John Lloyd – Bea film does this to me, fresh bucket of tears each time I watch. It’s either that or the animated film UP. How was Miss You Like Crazy? I got turned off when I saw how horrific Maricar Reyes’ wig was. Walang budget sa maayos na wigs ang Star Cinema???
February 28th, 2011 at 00:20
Star Cinema won’t spring for hairstylists??
February 28th, 2011 at 00:29
brewhuh23 — I love “One More Chance”. It incites equal parts kilig and sorrow. I am blind to the glaring flaws of that movie coz it’s too real. Almost like parts of it were lifted directly from my past relationships. Gaaah!
February 28th, 2011 at 00:56
Jessica — The only decent one is the wig Bea had in One More Chance, and I’m being nice na ah.
TheFuturist — Yeah, despite the flaws, the hurts are well translated especially by John Lloyd. Parang kung mapapanood mo sa sinehan, gusto mong sumigaw sa screen ng, “Tama naaaaa!!! Akin ka na lang kung ayaw ka na ni Basha, akin ka na langggggg!!!”
Sakit sa eyelashes.
February 28th, 2011 at 10:19
brewhuh23: My sister had the dry eyes problem too, probably from staying awake all night looking at a computer screen. Her ophthalmologist prescribed expensive eyedrops with Hypromellose. Fake tears basically. She says Eye Mo now has a variant with Hypromellose that costs so much less.
February 28th, 2011 at 23:40
don’t know the title of the John Lloyd Cruz-Sarah Geronimo movie where they did the rain dance but it’s the only one I watched because of a couple friend’s recommendation (kakakilig daw yung rain dance). anyway, in that movie, John Lloyd Cruz reminds me of FPJ because he stands a certain way, with head slightly cocked to one side and hands in his jean pockets.
March 1st, 2011 at 00:15
I don’t usually watch local romance films but because I was forced by a date I saw My Amnesia Girl last year. I thought John Lloyd was charming. And yeah, totoo ang formula na ‘yan. Effective naman apparently.
March 1st, 2011 at 13:08
I know a couple who broke up because girl forces boy to watch John Lloyd flicks.
I can’t wait for your round up on the Pinoy indies.