Rewind (2023)

"I don't have time to get mad anymore"

Filipina director Mae Cruz Alviar and writer Enrico Santos put their own stamp on the relationship time travel trope. They didn’t break new ground but they did commit to their story and characters in a way that came across as authentic.

Mary and John have been married for years and have a son together. Mary still deeply loves John and has built her world around helping him to fly while John has become selfish and angry. John never has time for her or their son, Austin, especially after Austin failed to make the football team. Austin tells his dad that Lodz has been talking with him and that everything is going to work out, his dad just has to figure out what he really wants. John asks who Lodz is and Austin shows him a picture of Jesus. When Mary dies the next day, John has his own meeting with Lodz who has a proposition for the guilt-ridden man.

John had a little over a day to put things right and save Mary. Not really long enough to have a complete personality change and to its credit the film showed John faltering at his first challenge. He was smacked upside his head with what was really of value in his life and how much time he’d wasted thinking only of work and himself. The people around him had suffered and been starved of his affection and attention. Mary was a skilled chef and she wanted to fly. Austin was a gifted pianist ready to fly if given the chance as well. John’s eyes were opened to the love and happiness he’d been shutting out for years and how badly he’d hurt his family.

Few people are given second chances and John learned about redemption, accountability, and regret in a crash course delivered by an electrician to help him see the light. Normally, this is the type of film I’d give a 7.5 to for being a good average movie, but I bumped it up for the commitment the filmmakers showed until the end to not take the easy way out.

11 August 2024

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Regret Is Always At The End

I have put off writing a review for this movie because, aside from that my account is still new, it is such a terrifying task to do. And a hard one because I don’t know if it’s possible to compile all of my thoughts on this movie into one review without making it too long for possible watchers to read.

I had the same experience with Rewind that I had with Just a Stranger which involved its trailer. I must really commend them since the trailer achieved what it set out to do! With news that Marian Rivera was set to star in the film with Dingdong Dantes, I was already tipping over since excuse me? Miss Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes? Hell yeah! What seriously convinced me was the trailer where Marian says the line “Minahal mo ba talaga ako?” (“Did you really love me?”) before the sound of a car crashing takes you by surprise. There were also the arguments and the amazing acting I immediately gleaned from the trailer alone. I knew then that I had to watch this movie.

Due to circumstances, I couldn’t watch the movie when it came out in cinemas for MMFF but I managed to watch it after a party right after I found out one of my best friends watched it. Boy, I just signed myself up for a rollercoaster of emotions with comical reactions.

I have nothing but praise for this film.

While others might say that this film has a familiar plot or that it concentrates on death and tragedy at the core, I say that all of it worked perfectly. Familiar plot? Maybe, but in my case, I don’t remember many films with a focus on trying to change the past. Like, it sounds familiar and I’d probably seen a myriad of films with that as their central theme but why can’t I remember any? We have that one movie, Click, sure, but it’s also comedy-heavy. The reason I love Rewind is the concentration on emotion. Focusing on emotions is the right decision for a film whose themes involve regret, cherishing what you have, and making it up to the people you love.

I saw that one of the comments says that the film focuses on death and tragedy. Yes, it does because it’s necessary to get their message across. It’s a heavy theme. This isn’t some badly written fantasy story that involves killing off characters for the shock factor. What happens in the film serves a purpose.

I have to stop myself from gushing about this film in all caps. I love everything in this film! From the lighting, the clothes, the camera angles, the acting, the characters, the plot, the arcs, the dialogue—absolutely everything!

Let me get this out of the way: Dingdong and Marian played these roles perfectly. Dingdong plays John Nuñez, the hotheaded, workaholic man whose priorities have shifted from his family to aspiring for a promotion. Marian plays Mary Nuñez, the housewife who was once a promising culinary student. Some part of me had small doubts about whether Marian could portray the housewife whose identity is marred by her role in the household. And while I like Dingdong, I am guilty of typecasting him since I assumed that all he was good at was action. I was proven wrong. Dingdong Dantes showed range and his breakdowns in the film broke my heart to the point that I wept with him. Marian Rivera, of course, made me feel pangs of sympathy with how she played Mary’s internal struggles. Their performances broke my heart and brought me to tears—no. Sobs. Full-on weeping.

Another thing I love about this film: its themes. The main theme of regrets and cherishing what you have before it’s too late resonates with me. It begs the age-old question, “What would you do if you could go back in time?” which I have nothing but love for because it’s a question you already know the answer to. To do right by those you love before it’s too late—isn’t that just painful?

Other themes include the plight of the housewives. I mentioned this before in my review of “The Love Affair” starring Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta, and Bea Alonzo. Let me reiterate: these wives are left behind while supporting their husbands, left behind to take care of the house, left behind to raise the children. Their identities are reduced to their role but what if they want more? What if they want to be known as more than ‘the wife’?

There’s this detail that I noticed throughout the film. Some might say that I’m looking too much into this but I’m going in this with the logic that everything in film serves a purpose and means something. The clothes that the characters wear. For example, Mary constantly wears white clothes which is a nod to funeral dress codes. You know, mourning. At one point, John wears black clothes during a dark time in his character’s arc and as the story progresses and so does his character arc, his clothes change from black to white.

With every watch, I just notice more and more minor details and look into what they represent like the lighting. I remember some shots having John’s face clouded by darkness before his character arc starts progressing. I remember Mary being constantly illuminated in every scene. I remember John being bathed in a blinding light towards the end of the film. I love that they used the lighting to show the character’s state of mind, in a way.

I also love the camera angles. Most of the time, it’s fixed. But, subtly—so subtle that I end up gaping like a fool when I realise—you notice that the camera tilts to show the character’s state of mind again. This is mostly used to show the character’s state of mind, again. When something within them shifts.

Another complaint people might have is that it’s preachy because it involves God. I would say that’s not really the case. Aside from God being a part of the film, it’s not really trying to convince you that their religion is good or anything, only that God is trying to help John right his wrongs. This is coming from someone who doesn’t practise the religion, by the way. I would say that putting God in the film is more of a medium for John to go back in time.

The bits of comedy that we do get provides us with some levity. A reprieve after all of the heavy things we have to watch. Some breathing room. And let me tell you, the comedy actually made me laugh.

I’ve never loved a director’s work more than I did Mae Cruz-Alviar’s. There’s a reason that, after three watches in a short amount of time, I still cried. The first time I watched this, I was an absolute, ugly, sobbing mess even while eating dinner. The second time I watched this, I wanted to drag my older sibling into this pool of pain so I subjected them to it. The third time I watched this, I joined my older sibling and their online friend in watching this. I was a mess both times. All of this happened in a week, I think, which is evidence of the film’s brilliance.

Oh, right, thanks, I guess, for making Sa Susunod Na Habang Buhay (In Our Next Lifetime) impossible to listen to without sobbing and remembering the film’s events.

Massive kudos to Mae Cruz-Alviar, Dingdong Dantes, and Marian Rivera for their phenomenal work and performances.

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