I have been meaning to write about this movie for quite some time now but I haven't got the time because I have been very very busy. God I can't believe that I let my work run me over. I swear like a million times never to let that happen but then again I always find myself being in that same scenario over and over and over again. Anyways.
"Romeo at Juliet" was sort of a reinterpretation of the classic story of "Romeo and Juliet". We follow the story of two young individuals, fell in love with each other and both died at the end. But the love angle of the story was made secondary in this movie, and rather than the two protagonists at the center, it was more of an ensemble work, at least that is what I felt. It was a very interesting premise that they had, how parents affect children when they grow up and how children adapt to what happened to them and how they were brought up. And they used that to drive the whole story.
You guys all know that Adolf Alix is my favorite Filipino director and I had loved most of his works (Batanes, Daybreak, Donsol, Adela, Aurora to name some). But sad to say, I felt a little lost with his new creation. I think that he got lost with building up the style. It was somewhat a deviation from his normal story telling. You can tell that he is somewhat experimenting. But the end product felt tad disconnected.
As for the acting, most of the them delivered, but no real stand out performance. Alessandra de Rossi was her usual good, but I kinda wish that she explored her character more. It felt a little shallow. Victor Basa is growing more as an actor, he should be given more roles to excel at. I was impressed because I do not think that he could act at all. His puppy eyed character was hard to not to be sympathetic at. Lemuelle Pelayo as the cliche sex addict best friend was good despite the rather thin background. For me it was Max Eigenmann who was the best in show. Though her character was a little one dimensional, she delivered a great performance nonetheless.
What really hindered "Romeo at Juliet" from being the masterwork that it should have been was that it sometimes verged on trying to hard from separating itself from typical mainstream love stories. There were so many flourishes that it could have gone without. I was not a fan of the split screens, but I kinda dug the old film roll style of retelling the past. It was at times rather entertaining, but I really felt disconnected. If there is anything to get excited with this movie is the fact that Adolf Alix seems to be gearing us up to something new. I hope it works in his next effort. Nevertheless, I am still a groupie.
C
