Yup. We Filipinos love a good cryfest of a movie.
Four Sisters and A Wedding is one such movie. The trailer was fairly misleading. ANY Filipino movie with the family as the central theme is bound to draw at least one tear from each moviegoer, of course, but the trailer made it out to be a comedy, not a drama. It was a good move on the producers’ part, but for someone like me who was just looking for a good laugh, I was extremely caught off guard when I started tearing up then couldn’t stop.
Geez.
Masakit sa puso (hurts the heart) is what this movie is.
But it was beautiful. I’m not a big fan of local movies mainly because of the exaggerated cheese factor or over the top slapstick comedy in most films here, so it really is refreshing to have a quality movie like this one. Yes, Carmi Martin and Buboy Garovillo and “Princess Antoinette Bahag” (mystery lady remains a mystery) were decidedly TOO MUCH in their roles (god they gave me a headache), but I suppose they provided a necessary contrast to the normalness of the troubled Salazar family, which was portrayed by Coney Reyes (mother), Toni Gonzaga, Bea Alonzo, Angel Locsin, Shaina Magdayao, and Enchong Dee. Could there have been another way of showing this contrast of rich vs poor, pretentious vs real? Was the ostentation necessary?
Perhaps it was if they had wanted to retain the comedic aspect of the movie, and which they obviously did. I suppose it’s just tiring to see self-made rich people portrayed as annoying pretentious over-the-top feelingeros and feelingeras. Can we just get over that local stereotype already?
Nevertheless, this did not take away from the overall message of the movie, that no matter how excruciatingly annoying and infuriating people can get, if your family has a loving, strong, and solid relationship, then the family will always stand tall. And the mother? It’s her love that binds everybody together.
The message is beautiful and incredibly relevant to this culture. We pride ourselves on our strong family ties, but over the years I’ve seen how many children come from broken families, and this movie serves as a reminder to all that no matter how crazy things get, love can pull ANYBODY through ANYTHING.
That being said, I don’t know how I could’ve stood to watch a local movie even if it had a beautiful message if the acting was horrible, but thanks to the talent of everybody, even Sam Milby, not one beautiful movie moment is lost because you’re too busy griping about someone’s acting. You watch it riveted, only stopping for a second or two to rummage through your bag for a tissue.
I’m glad I watched this movie. You should, too. 🙂
hear me out 