This Ghost at the Movies

(I don’t know why I even bothered posting this. But that night was interesting, and it was absolutely begging to be written about.)

For more than a month now, I’ve been enduring the “In Your Eyes” movie trailer.

I’d be sitting on a dining room chair, remoting the TV on and I’d be assaulted by Rachel Ann Go crooning the movie’s theme song. And I swear, if I ever hear Anne Curtis saying, “Spontaneous, free-spirited, out of the box,” again I’ll throw up.

In case you haven’t heard about it—which is very fortunate of you—it’s about two sisters (played by Claudine Barretto and Anne Curtis) aiming for the good life in the U.S. and falling in love with the same guy (Richard Gutierrez). Basically, it is one guy (manwhore in fact, with all the love scenes he’s been doing) falling in love with the other sister, keeps it a secret from the sister who’s his actual girlfriend and they all go apeshit when the affair is revealed. Put in some issues about racial discrimination and the real stuff Filipinos have to do to make it easier to stay in America and you get “In Your Eyes”.

I’d wait for the trailer to be over and think, “That’s one movie I won’t be caught dead watching”. I mean, really, that scene with Richard Gutierrez bellowing, “Shut up! Shut up, both of you!” doesn’t do it for me.

You could say I swallowed my pride along with a slice of my manhood because I was at the movie’s premiere the other night. I stared at all the people crowding near the red carpet and I was thinking, “WTF!”

You got it, hon, This Ghost went sappy-mainstream.

No awesome movies with hardcore special effects or action-packed scenes; no exploding stuff or high-speed car chases. No anything that I’d consider worth watching for in a movie. I had to settle for emotional sitches and true love.

Say it with me, “Euww”.

I could’ve refused but I knew I’d get an ass-whooping from my sisters if I didn’t go. So we got outta the house by 5pm and took the bus to SM in Ortigas. My aunt, who spent the night in Taguig wasn’t there yet to meet up with us. We headed over to Cinema 9 to check things out. There were a lot of excited people milling around the red carpet that led to the set-up stage near the theatre entrance.

We ducked inside Max’s for dinner; the event for sure would start about 9pm. Besides, I was already hungry. So we lingered over dinner, ordered dessert and I noticed something going on with the resto’s staff. A guy in black had come in and went over to the staff manager. The two huddled together in a corner. After much discussion, the manager snapped his fingers and some of the waiters put in order that small room with the glass doors where I guessed they hold special events, or reserved for VIP.

There was a stir going on outside and inside the resto; some whispering and head-craning going on and I realized why. Minutes later, Bubbles Paraiso and Ehra Madrigal walked in.

Here’s my thing with celebrities. I’d rather that they stay on TV; and more A-okay if I don’t see the lot of them in person. Ever.

Some of them are okay, I guess, but I won’t be stalking them either. Mostly, I’m irked when I observe people reacting at a glimpse of one; they’re literally falling over themselves. I mean, puh-lease.

But they did look good. As I watched Ehra and Bubbles (I wouldn’t even know their names if my sister hadn’t told me) make their way to the reserved section, I had to admit that the pair was beautiful. Nice, even skin, beautiful hair; looking well-fed and well-dressed. Some customers took the chance and snapped a picture with the two.

Moments later, another celeb I didn’t recognize came in. Arci Munoz, whoever she is. Another round of picture-taking. Click, click, flash. I noticed my sister gearing up with her own digicam and I looked at her in horror.

“You wouldn’t!” I said. I hate it when people take pictures of celebrities. That’s like dropping your pride to insect level.

“What?” she asked. She looked at me and said, “All right, but if Ruffa comes in, I will take THAT picture.”

The parade of celebrities continued. There was Annabelle Rama (intimidating to the core) and the dapper Eddie Gutierrez. Raymond Gutierrez (looking gay and if his gestures are to be observed, a flaming one) followed suit and was nice enough to stop to have his photo taken. I looked around and wondered about the hellish stiff necks these people would soon suffer, the way they’re craning their heads and all.

Ate Jane rose from her chair, ready to pounce with her cam but she lost a bit of spirit and sat down again. But when TJ Trinidad (he looks like a vampire dressed in regular clothes) appeared outside the window, my sisters both gushed and giggled, “It’s TJ!” Ate Jane looked practically vicious and determined; she stood with her cam on the ready.

Apparently, people were more into male actors because the whispering all over the resto moved up a couple of decibels. My sister flew to the action and managed to snap this picture of TJ. 

Note: Don’t stare too much at the creepy woman (that's not my sis, btw) in the striped shirt. It ruins the moment.

Anyway, JC de Vera came in a few minutes later. We should’ve been outta there about half an hour ago but with all the famous people coming through the doors, the staff was too harried to hand us our bill. My Ate Dith joked that nobody would even notice if we ditched paying and just make a quick exit.

The movie director, Mac Alejandre was there too. I was more interested in him because he was the moviemaker. He makes the magic happen. I mean, without his vision, what was there to see?

Finally, the bill arrived. We paid and left, but not without my sisters looking over to the reserved section. We met with my aunt and her bestfriend outside the resto (after a few moments of admiring Bianca King as she drifted by) and we ambled to Cinema 9.

Just before reaching it, we stopped. My girls were pricking their ears; a coupla determined-looking men from security walked by us and my girls knew something big’s coming. Turned out it was Anne Curtis. In the interest of making this post shorter, here’s what happened:

Anne Curtis with her dad on her arm; surrounded by her entourage and security people. They all passed by me; Anne was close enough that if I was a lesser person, I could reach out and take a lock of her hair as a souvenir. Of course, I’d get beaten if I do.

Anne: (smiling and saying something unintelligible to someone behind her)

Me: (yawns)

Ate: We saw Anne Curtis! (gushing and coming up beside me)

Me: She’s pretty but her mouth’s gi-normous. Really.

My aunt called her contact from Viva and we made it into the theater but not without a lot of jostling from the crowd. We took our seats and settled down to watch.

Here’s what I realized, to my surprise: the movie was actually pretty good. Seriously.

The storyline’s good. Simple, but it works. The angles and shots are neat and effortless. The acting is great too. I admire the way Claudine summons the tears on cue. Anne’s character is fun and…all right, I’ll say it, ‘spontaneous and free-spirited’. The music however is blergh, except for the theme song which is tolerable. Plus, Richard’s emotional outbursts are awkward. The movie can do without it.

Throughout the movie, there were shouts of “We love you, Claudine!” or “We love you, Anne!” and other flare-ups from fans. It was funny. I figured they were paid to do it so the movie experience wouldn’t be so serious and hushed. I guessed it’s not a good movie if people do not react strongly and positively to it.

All in all, it was an unexpectedly good viewing. I won’t be watching it again but “In Your Eyes” was great. Normally, I’d shy away from Filipino movies. I thought it was corny and too ‘pang-masa’. Plus, I found the storyline, directing and the actors half-assed. But I guess I was just ignorant on how Filipino-made movies have actually evolved.