FAMAS Awards 2017 nominees include KathNiel, Joshua Garcia, Angel Locsin & more

All Of You Movie Review: A Realistic Incisive Look At How Couples Fall In And Out Of Love

THERE are a lot of incisive films that take a close, serious look at relationships in crisis. This year, we just had "12", written by Alessandra de Rossi and directed by Dondon Santos, about a couple who've been together for 12 years and how their relationship eventually deteriorated. And now, we have "All of You", also a dissection of how a couple fall in and out of love after they've lived in for three years, with Jennylyn Mercado as Gabby and Derek Ramsay as Gab.

The film starts with the breakup of Jen's relationship with her grouchy boyfriend (Rafael Rosell) in a public parking lot. After two years, she goes to Taiwan for a work-related trip and, through a dating app, she meets Derek. They instantly make a connection and the night ends with them sleeping together.

They continue their affair in Manila. The relationship is new and fresh, so they can't get enough of each other. Each giddy moment is full of "lambingan" and sweet nothings. Derek asks Jen to move in with him. And she does. But as we all know, life is not like a Disney fairy tale and not all couples have a happily ever after.



Soon, Jen starts to intrude on Derek's life, even urging him to give up smoking for her. Other things crop up, seemingly small and petty, but testing and eroding their crumbling relationship in a major way as this can be quite emotionally exhausting, eventually making them unhappy. About the smoking, Derek doesn't stop. On the contrary, it's Jen who picks up the habit and starts smoking herself.

Abroad, a film about a well intentioned couple who get to sink so low as they fall into a pit of emotional abuse is "Blue Valentine", with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling giving great performances as they go through the highs and lows of their marriage, making it an unflinching look at heartbreak. In local films, it's very common to see warring lovers trying to outshout each other, even resorting to toxic violence every now and then.

What makes "All of You" different is that it tries to avoid this kind of loud melodrama. The situations projected on screen are all real, presented as naturalistic slices of reality as mutual dissatisfaction grows, and not the manipulative exchanges we see in mawkish soaps. Anyone who's been in a relationship will recognize what's going on and the emotions at play.

This is the forte of Dan Villegas which he has shown before in his previous films, like "Always Be My Maybe", "Breakup Playlist", "How to Be Yours", and he does it with his own distinctive style and rhythm.

Both Jen and Derek try to treat each other with unabashed honesty and unvarnished truth, so you know that eventually, despite the cracks in their relationship, it will somehow not totally fall apart and their reconciliation is deservedly earned to achieve true intimacy after an exhausting bout with romantic malaise. Everything is presented in believable detail, unlike in "12" where most of the exchanges between the two characters are presented mostly in generalities.

Both Jennylyn and Derek give outstanding, engaging performances in their respective roles, but it is Derek who comes out with the phenomenal portrayal of a man who is stripped down to the bone, showing genuine emotion and eventually eating his pride to prove his true love for Jen.

He truly excels in that wrenching scene where he even kneels down in front of Jen while they're arguing on the roadside, making the compelling scene all his own and nearly blowing Jen off the screen. This fiery encounter is in total contrast to the final scene which is quite restrained, silent and not much dialogue are even exchanged.

We've seen other films like this before in this kind of sub genre and, as a viewer, we always hope that the characters will survive the crisis. Somehow we feel sad when they don't make it, like what happened in "12". As an active volunteer in the Discovery Weekend marriage preparation program, we try to help couples on how to conduct dialogue in a loving, positive, compassionate way. How we really wish all married couples would learn to do it as it will lead to healing and no doubt help avoid ugly heart rending scenes full of acerbic bitterness and distressful recrimination that only result into a painful and total breakdown of communication.
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Annual Parade Of Stars To Promote Entries In The Metro-Manila Filmfest To Be Staged In Muntinlupa, This Saturday, December 23, As Part Of Their Centennial Celebration

THE ANNUAL PARADE of Stars to herald in the 43rd Metro-Manila Filmfest will be held at Muntinlupa tomorrow. The city of Muntinlupa, in coordination with the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority), will be hosting it as part of their city's 100th Founding Anniversary and as its Culminating Activity.

The Muntinlupa Traffic and Management Bureau said certain roads will be blocked for the parade and advised motorists to take alternate routes.

According to the Muntinlupa City government, the MMFF Parade of Stars will start from the Muntinlupa Sports Complex going to Buendia Street and Centennial Avenue. It will pass the National Road from Barangay Tunasan to Alabang.

The parade will also enter Filinvest City through Corporate Avenue and Bridgeway and will end at Filinvest Event Grounds/Block 30 for a short program. Temporary closure of the National Road will be implemented from 12 noon onwards.

This year's official entries are "Gandarrapido: The Revenger Squad" (Star Cinema, Viva Films), "Ang Panday" (Star Cinema, Viva Films, CCM Productions), "All of You" (Quantum Films, MJM Productions), "Deadma Walking" (T-Rex Productions), "Siargao" (TEN17P), "Haunted Forest" (Regal Entertainment) and "Ang Larawan" (Culturtain).
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Gabbi Garcia Hosts GMA Online Show On YouTube With Broadcasters Atom Araullo & Joseph Morong Starting January 1, 2018

GABBI GARCIA is so lucky as it's obvious she's one of GMA-7's current fair haired girls. Aside from acting, she also does Chika Minute on "24 Oras" every now then. She now ends the passing year 2017 with a new movie, "Meant to Beh", where she plays the daughter of Vic Sotto and Dawn Zulueta, and she starts the new year 2018 with a new TV show, "GMA One Online Exclusive", that starts airing on January 1st, 5 PM.

And she also has a new soap in 2018, "Sherlock Jr.", with her ka-love team, Ruru Madrid, who, she insists, is only a good friend and there's nothing really romantic going on between them. They're also paired in "Meant to Beh" and they'll be joining the Parade of Stars in Muntinlupa this Saturday together to ride on their movie's float.

Gabbi is excited to host "GMA One Online Exclusive", which is actually a 3-in-1 show as she will be hosting "#Goals with Gabbi Garcia", while Atom Araullo will host "Adulting" and GMA broadcaster Joseph Morong will host "Fact or Fake".

"I'm so thankful to GMA pero giving me this chance to do hosting," she says. "'#Goals' is about beauty, travel, makeup, music, lifestyle, fashion trends. Very relatable for millennials like me. This helps me cultivate other skills aside from acting and it's also a learning experience me kasi ang dami kong natututuhan dito with the tutorials I do, along with the viewers."

In "Adulting", Atom Araullo will focus on the struggles faced everyday by a young man like him. He will deal with relationship and career problems that millennials can definitely relate with. Joseph, in turn, will help viewers be more discerning in "Fact or Fake".

"Fake news have become so common so we should all learn to spot which stories are real and which ones aim to misinform the people, especially now where we get an overflow of information from various sources and social media," says Joseph.

You can watch this new show on line, at GMA's official youtube account (youtube.com/gmanetwork) and new episodes will be uploaded every Monday at 5 PM starting on the first day of 2018. Don't miss it so you can start your New Year right!
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