‘MY Father, Myself’ is the only Metro Filmfest entry that is rated R-18, so it’s not being shown in SM Cinemas. We’ve seen its screening at Trinoma and now we know why. The subject matter is not only gay themed, but tackles relationships that border near an incestuous one, and the various love scenes (both hetero and homo) are done graphically, Vivamax style.

In all fairness, the story is laid out well, but if you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading this review now (although if you’ve seen the trailer, you already know how it goes.) The movie starts with the assassination of a peasant leader. Domeng (Allan Paule), who leaves an orphaned son, Matthew, who’s then adopted by his friend, a human rights lawyer, Robert (Jake Cuenca,)

Robert brings the boy home to his wife, Amanda (Dimples Romana), and daughter Mica (Tiffany Gray.) He raises the boy like his own son and Matthew grows up to be Sean de Guzman. Sean and Tiffany both take up law and Sean becomes a bar topnotcher.

Tiffany is very vocal in saying she’s so in love with Sean, but he says he just loves him like his own sister. When they both get drunk, Tiffany becomes very aggressive in seducing Sean and something happens to them. But Sean continues to be distant to her no matter how hard she tries to make him love her.

It turns out Sean has the hots for Jake and professes his love for him. Jake tries his best to resist him, but he says he can feel Jake also has feelings for him. He says he saw Jake then kissing his own dad and he considers himself as his dad’s replacement for Jake. Eventually, Jake gives in.

Tiffany discovers she’s pregnant and Dimples says she and Sean have to get married. But Tiffany soon discovers that her dad and her groom are having an illicit relationship and things get really messy. So how would you resolve this very complicated predicament?

The ensemble acting of the main cast is quite splendid. The four major stars deliver in their respective roles. Jake Cuenca is touching as the closeted lawyer who has to repress his real feelings all his life to maintain a happy relationship with his wife and daughter. He is at his best in that quiet parting scene with Sean in the church grounds where tears just kept welling from his eyes.

Sean de Guzman gives a very good performance here as the adopted son who falls in love with his foster father and also beds his foster sister. In other words, tinuhog niya ang mag-ama and he has unabashed bedscenes with both of them. But his best performance for us this year is in his role as the erring and repentant husband who fervently seeks his wife’s forgiveness in “Relyebo”.

Tiffany Gray does well for her first movie, she is very touching in that scene where she finds out the real score between her father and her boyfriend, then she makes Sean choose as to who is more important for him: her dad or their baby she is carrying in her womb?

But it is Dimples Romana who gives an extremely impassioned performance as the wronged wife. The confrontation scene where she tells Jake that she married him even if she knew from the start that he’s hiding in the closet and is only after her family’s money, reeks with so much intense pain and you can really feel for her. Why she won in the filmfest awards night as best supporting actress, when she plays the female lead in the movie, is something we cannot comprehend.

The film is quite well crafted compare to some recent films of Director Joel Lamangan that looks like they’re rushed hack work. This one has above average good technical work. We just don’t agree with the melodramatic way that the major problem is resolved. Just like in past Joel’s gay-themed entries in the Metro Filmfest, one character is killed so they can have a happy ending to please the viewers, but, which for us, is not that totally believable.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Mario Bautista