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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

MINSAN PA NATIN HAGKAN ANG NAKARAAN (1983)


Basic Information: Directed: Marilou Diaz Abaya; Story: Carlo J Caparas; Screenplay: Racquel Villavicencio; Cast: Vilma Santos, Christopher De Leon, Eddie Garcia, Mona Lisa, Baby Delgado; Executive producer: Vic Del Rosario; Original Music: George Canseco; Cinematography: Manolo Abaya; Film Editing: Mark Tarnate; Theme Song: “Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan Ang Nakaraan” performed by Basil Valdez

Plot Description: A heart rendering drama of love – resisted and revived. Rod leaves Helen for his career and she falls in love with another. Rod becomes successful and goes back to Helen who obviously still feels strongly for him. An illicit affair ensues. And the resulting conflict revolving around three of the Philippines’ most awarded stars makes this movie one of the most remembered love stories. From the powerful pen of Racquel Villavicencio and the dynamic direction of Marilou Diaz-Abaya. - Pelikula.net (READ MORE)

Helen (Vilma Santos) looks like a woman who has everything, a beautiful home, a loving husband and a baby on the way. But this serenity is only superficial, as the baby's father is not her husband Cenon (Eddie Garcia) but her lover Rod (Christopher de Leon). Helen and Rod used to be lovers but Helen's pride could not take Rod's ambitions so she married Cenon thinking this is the life she wanted. But Rod comes back and refuses to give her up. He worms his way into Helen's family by offering his services as the architect of their new house. Soon, Rod wants her to leave Cenon and make a new life with him and the baby. But Helen is torn by her loyalty to Cenon and the need to secure her baby's future. Who will Helen chose? Or will fate choose for her? Award-winning filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya directed this melodrama based from a story by Carlo J. Caparas. Written by Racquel Villavicencio, Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan Ang Nakaraan was produced by Viva Films. - Jojo DeVera

Film Achievement: FAMAS: Best Actor - Eddie Garcia

Film Reviews: "...Sa 1983, ang mga mapagpipilian lamang ay Broken Marriage...On a lower randk would be...Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan ang Nakaraan...Now that we have discussed this year's better films and the directors who made them, tunghayan natin ang listahan ng best screen performances...ang pinagtaksilang aswang labis ang pagmamahal sa kanyang kabiyaksa Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan ang Nakaraan, ibang uri ng akting ang ipinamalas ni Eddie (Garcia) rito at talaga namang namumukod-tangi ang kanyang pagkakaganap... " - Movie Flash Magazine, January 5, 1984 (READ MORE)

"...Marilou Diaz-Abaya's Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan Ang Nakaraan (Viva Films) lingers on the sparks of an emotional connection. As the events turns into something more, the film captures a truth most others only imply. To love someone is an opportunity to rethink who you are, an invitation to shape and refine the self you wish to be....As the film unfolds, split-second decisions carry enormous weight, small gestures mean the world. Character-driven dramas are not supposed to make show of backstory, much of Minsan is devoted to defining these characters or rather to watching how they define themselves in streams of free-flowing but perfectly calibrated talk and in a few candid, tender scenes. A gifted director with an ear for naturalistic dialogue and a shrewd sense of structure, Abaya embeds several discoveries along the way, most crucially, the catch that defines the film's time frame immediately lending its meandering conversations a heightened urgency. But it's a testament to Abaya's skill and maturity that Minsan dosen't hinge on simple plot points, on will-they-won't-they suspense on a twist that reveals an unexpected connection between the protagonists. What truly matters here is the vivid sense of individuals going about thoroughly ordinary lives, neither fully satisfied nor exactly depressed engaged in the day-to-day drama of figuring out who they are, in public and in private. While Abaya never turns his characters into mouthpieces, Rod and Helen's husband, Cenon (Eddie Garcia) to an extent, embody conflicting impulses and Minsan shows that each have their attractions and that both exert a toll. If a film as unassuming as Minsan can feel profound, even downright revelatory, that maybe because the romance genre has never really had the chance to mature. For better and worse, most screen romances have always reflected the gender and sexual attitudes of their times. Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan Ang Nakaraan is a wise, lovely, enormously moving film that's both timeless and specific. A story about falling in love that is also a tale of identity and self-definition..." - Jojo Devera, Sari-saring Sineng Pinoy (READ MORE)

Romantic Obsession - "...Two of Bernal’s successful domestic dramas, Relasyon/Relationship (1982) and Broken Marriage (1983), would have been in Abaya’s mind when she signed on with major production company Viva for her next project, also a domestic drama, Minsan Pa Nating Hagkan ang Nakaraan/Yesterday’s Kiss… Tomorrow’s Love (1983). Both of Bernal’s films had top-billed two of the country’s most enduring superstars, Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon, and Abaya’s own project would feature the same actors. That it shared so many common elements as the great master’s works would have been both cause for excitement and trepidation for Abaya. For the script, she hired a young writer, Raquel Villavicencio, who had co-written Relasyon with Bernal and Lee. Based on a story by popular komiks writer Carlo Caparas, the film follows the obsessive relationship between Rod (de Leon) and Helen (Santos) that broke up when Rod left to study in the United States and that reignited as soon as he came back. The only problem is that Helen is now happily married to a much older man, Cenon (Eddie Garcia). At first, Helen resists Rod’s renewed pursuit but her barriers eventually break down and she starts to meet him in guilty trysts. As Helen refuses to leave her husband, Rod insinuates himself into Cenon’s good graces and gets himself hired as architect for a house that Cenon is building for Helen. She tries to break their affair once and for all, but Rod can’t be easily shaken off, especially after Helen gets pregnant and Rod is convinced that the baby is his. This dance of obsession, temptation, and guilt leads the lovers to tragedy. Abaya displayed style and maturity in her handling of a story which in most hands would be an occasion for melodramatic excess. As with the majority of Abaya’s works, the attention to production design, cinematography (by Manolo) and pacing is evident. The film did not reach the sublime elegance and wit of Bernal’s best domestic dramas like Relasyon. But it was a cut above the majority of domestic dramas of the day and need not find an excuse for its unpretentious, modest study of romantic obsession..." - Asian Cine Vision (READ MORE)