Last night, I went to a block screening of HOOQ’s Ulan at the recently opened Director’s Club at The Podium.
This is HOOQ’s first move towards making original content in the Philippines, and they partnered with Viva Films for this movie. Ulan is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.
ULAN
Ulan stars popular young actress Nadine Lustre as Maya, a young woman whose idea of love has been shaped by her grandmother’s superstitions and her own juvenile imaginations.
This is not a movie genre that I typically see, but I was invited to see it and I was curious. Coming into the movie screening with very little idea of what the movie is about, my impression of the movie is that it is sort of an indie film – it is not the formulaic, “feel-good” romance that people may be used to.
In fact, the title “Ulan” (rain) is already a clue to where this movie is headed. The movie weaves in various personifications and meanings of rain to the tale – some which were nicely done, and some which I thought were too obvious and simple.
Nadine was believable and empathetic as Maya, the protagonist of the story. I cried, too, when she cried. She really does a good job of being the center of the movie. She can carry this movie. She starts out idealistic, looking for love from a love interest, and towards the end of the movie, she becomes more confident in herself, she realizes that she’s enough herself and that she will never run out of love to give.
One of the other things that I really liked about this movie was the old, wooden house where her grandmother lived. I miss that kind of house because it reminded me so much of our old house that my heart ached. I used to hate the wooden walls and windows that had become uneven through time, and had wished for the newer, more modern concrete houses like my other friends had. Now I regret ever feeling that way because I really do miss our old wooden house, which is now only a memory.
Story-wise, I thought Ulan was a little bit too neat. I felt that the story just circled back except that there was some character development that happened in the process. While it is not formulaic in the commercial sense, it is a typical indie story formula where they don’t give the ending people want/expect. While I hoped against the ending, I did see it coming. Flashback is used often, but I didn’t mind it and I thought this was done well.
They also rely a lot on stereotypes to characterize some of the side characters, for example: jerk rich guy, bitchy rich girl, supportive gay best friend. I also did not like the part where the main character tried to ruin another woman’s wedding. Like, I know you have a problem, but please don’t make faces behind the bride or try to sabotage her wedding, come on! That’s not okay.
I thought that the costumes / special effects could have been better. I don’t know what kind of budget they had for special effects, so they could be doing the best they could with what they had, I don’t know.
Overall, the movie Ulan revolved around the “rain” theme very well. Maya’s journey was told skillfully, with an effective use of flashback. The rest of the audience seemed to enjoy the movie and laughed at the comedy bits. I cried buckets. I am happy to see that HOOQ and Viva Films are trying something new and hope that they continue to do so.
Ulan is the first ever collaboration between HOOQ and Viva Films. It stars Nadine Lustre and Carlo Aquino, and is written and directed by Irene Emma Villamor.
Director’s Club, The Podium
This was my first time to see a movie at the Director’s Club (5F, The Podium). The last time I was at The Podium, the cinema was still closed.
I like this theater. The seats are spacious and comfortable, there’s a swingout table for food, the sound system is good. The price for a movie there is around P455 but there are less seats per theater.
