There was nary a dry eye at the first-ever Rolling Stone Philippines Film Club and its exclusive screening of this year’s most tear-jerking Filipino romance, The Loved One, by director Irene Villamor, starring Jericho Rosales and Anne Curtis.
The Rolling Stone Philippines Film Club was launched on February 19 at the Opus Premier Cinemas, VIP Cinema, the official cinema partner for the screening of The Loved One.
The Loved One has brought in an impressive P110 million just nine days after its premiere. But more importantly, the film has proven irreverent in its choices to break the formula of a typical romantic story. Rather than relying on the well-worn tropes of the genre, The Loved One broadens the scope of what a Filipino romance film can be, reflecting Rolling Stone Philippines’ commitment to questioning convention.
According to Carl Chavez, who leads the film’s PR and marketing efforts, the film has also spawned a number of breakups among moviegoers, with some even sending in screenshots to prove that The Loved One was the sign they needed to call things off.
Rolling Stone PH Film Club’s guests of honor for the evening were the filmmakers behind The Loved One, including director Irene Villamor, whose romance films like Sid & Aya: Not a Love Story (which also stars Curtis) and Only We Know have established her as an auteur in the genre. Alongside her were Director of Photography Pao Orendain and Costume Designer Cris Cao.
The evening brought together some of the country’s most dedicated creatives to honor yet another impactful addition to Philippine cinema. As Rolling Stone Philippines publisher Anne Bernisca so put it in her opening remarks, “We would like to share, once again, the shared silence, laughter, and reflection that only a cinema experience can bring us.”
Also in attendance were well-known figures in the fields of film, arts, and lifestyle, including film critics Lé Baltar and Chuck Smith, Linya-Linya co-founder Ali Sangalang, interior designer Pauline Prieto, and more. Guests arrived early at the premiere cinema before heading in for the pre-screening Q&A session.
After opening speeches from Rolling Stone Philippines’ publisher Anne Bernisca and Chief of Editorial Content Jonty Cruz, the event officially kicked off with features editor Don Jaucian inviting Villamor, Orendain, and Cao to discuss the making of The Loved One. The director recalled that, after months of Rosales not responding to her email offering him the role, Villamor met him by chance at a restaurant and had him read the script at the dinner table. “Buti na lang nadala ko ‘yung laptop ko,” joked Villamor. “Tapos, nagusap kami until midnight.”
Orendain and Cao also spoke at length about prioritizing the film’s continuity and differentiating between eras within the couple’s 10-year relationship. “We decided [to shoot in] black and white to have anchors for the present day,” said Orendain. “The scenes that are shot in color are all memories, and from different perspectives. So we chose to desaturize some colors and highlight the rest.”
The cinema grew quiet as the screening began, and, over the course of the film, hushed reactions could be heard from audience members all around the room.
As the end credits began to roll, the cinema lights flickered on to reveal a room full of moviegoers either still reeling from what they’d just seen or turning their heads to catch their friends and peers trying to hide their tears. Villamor was welcomed back onstage to a loud round of applause and was asked to answer a few post-movie questions.
When asked about the film’s ending, Villamor said that both Curtis and Rosales had different opinions about the final scene, which, as the director reveals, was shot with different versions. “Kasi si Echo, parang siya ‘yung hopeful,” said the director while noting that Curtis felt that the ending should be less ambiguous. “Even sa last scene when na kakatingin sila and they’re just talking, there are versions of that na parang Anne leans on Echo, and we also did a version where Echo is looking at Anne.”
With that revelation in mind, they could not have chosen a better ending, leaving an open-ended note to a film that deconstructs love and how we remember our relationships.
