The panoramic shots of Manila are imposing in Star Cinema’s latest film, “Last Night”. There is something intriguing about how the movie captured the city’s rarely celebrated beauty, through somber palettes and dimmed scenes, and breathtaking aerial renders of the bustling metropolis at night.
This choice gives life to the film’s mostly gloomy proceedings, transforming Bela Padilla’s script to a more tangible anecdote of broken lives on the verge of collapse.
The film tells the story of Mark (Piolo Pascual), a grief-stricken man about to take his life by jumping off Jones Bridge. But when he is about to do so, he finds Carmina (Toni Gonzaga) hanging off a signboard just beneath the bridge. Realizing she just failed an attempted suicide, Mark comes to her rescue and before he knows it, they are already engaged in an earnest chitchat about the best possible ways to die.
The film immediately moves on from its sedate first few minutes and begins to shred Carmina and Mark’s story into finer, but still curious details. By this time, the film embarks to bare its true motives that are hidden behind its facade of apparent deceit.
While there is brilliance in unraveling this parabolic fraud midway in the film, it somehow feels forced and isn’t treated with the emotional weight it deserved. There is so much of amusing peculiarity going on in this film but the narrative falls short in augmenting them properly. At some point, the narrative launches a campaign to clarify its boggling weirdness, and spends a big chunk of the time to explain the oddity of prior events. The reveal just turns contrived rather than natural, and eventually limits the story from getting to more exciting places in the plot.
Be that as it may, it is completely difficult to shrug off where the film satisfyingly triumphed. “Last Night” turns out to be one of the most exotic romcoms in a very long time, and in fact one of the most ingenious film ideas this year.
It also helps that Pascual and Gonzaga are two capable actors who easily forge romantic chemistry in both visually and emotionally electrifying ways. The two capture the screen with dazzling register of their inherent appeal and ravishing intimacy, matching the mesmerizing allure created by Boy Yñiguez’s exquisite cinematography.
Both Mark and Carmina here, suffer character development, but given the limited time frame and their setting, Pascual and Gonzaga still deserve the high regard for getting their respective characters’ sentiments across beautifully.
Piolo Pascual’s charismatic appeal transforms his embittered character into a more accessible, relatable being. He imbues some sensitivity to the character and brings its humanity to a level the audience could easily relate with.
Toni Gonzaga, on other hand, radiates with Carmina’s quirk and modesty, but she shines best on her fragile moments, most of which leading to Mark’s discovery of her real story.
It is in Manila–over Jones Bridge, specifically–that the film opens and ends in visually scenic projections filled with ruthlessly manipulated scenes meant to solicit tears from the audience.
Direk Joyce Bernal is hardly a cinematic impressionist but she has employed some pretty commendable choices here. It gets the audience to realize at one point that Manila has a striking beautiful personality that is seldom spoken of. And Bernal utilizes that suitably. Musical score is mostly on point, adding some mystery to the already cryptic character of the plot.
Towards its resolution, “Last Night” manages to redeem some fragments of the glory it previously carelessly set aside. As their inevitable end gapes in the horizon, Mark and Carmina seemingly go back to the patches in their story, and try to understand the consequences of their fateful encounter.
The film pulls off some distinctively heartwarming moments, and underscores the hopeful possibilities of their situation.
On the whole, “Last Night” is a beautiful film. It is flawed and implausible at some point, but honest for the most part, deriving this ability from Bela’s eccentric but inspiring script. Suicide isn’t often an easy sell. But the very idea of people going through life-changing experiences like being in love and dying, makes this new perspective about the matter, heartfelt and genuinely moving. 3.5/5
