John Bengan
What do breakup stories usually reveal? The tipping point when enough has been had, the tedium that erodes the bond, the gradual avalanche of small acts? Written by Daniel Saniana and directed by Giancarlo Abrahan, Sila-Sila (2019) tiptoes around these familiar routes and draws our attention to a character who is sometimes hard to root for, let alone pare down to easily explicable urges.
Boyfriends Jared (Topper Fabregas) and Gab (Gio Gahol) are out on the road, trying to have quick one in Jared’s car. Afterward, Jared sweettalks Gab about refusing a job in Cagayan de Oro that will doubtless put a strain on the relationship. Gab brushes the subject aside, steps out of the car—but not without struggling with a broken door—and takes a piss on the sidewalk. Before he could zip up, he hears a familiar app notification. A fight ensues, objects get thrown out of the window, Gab wiggles out the back door and eventually walks away.
The next time we see Gab, eleven months have gone. He moves back to the same apartment, now managed by a young, often shirtless caretaker. He meets with Max (a touchingly amiable Bart Guingona), an older fling, who knows him by the name Dylan. Then he’s back in his job at a nonprofit where a competitive co-worker (Jay Gonzaga) scoffs at what’s left of his idealism. Soon he runs into his ex in the grocery aisle. When he and Jared pick up where they left off in a pub, it becomes clear that the problem isn’t just Grindr. Gab continues to frustrate Jared. He lashes out at his friends Nicole (Dwaine Baltazar) and Kevin (Phi Palmos) when they take him to task. After stringing him along, he coldly rebuffs the charming but reluctant Kiko (Kych Minemoto). Gab keeps finding himself in familiar haunts, being with the same people he was trying to escape.
In interviews, Abrahan said he wanted to make a movie about “ghosting”—a man disappears from his boyfriend and their friends for almost a year. Sila-Sila suggests what could happen if the “ghost” comes back freewheeling into the mess. Saniana’s script is strewn with loose moments of levity, even though at times, the movie strains for eccentricity and banter. Linda (Adrienne Vergara), a politician’s daughter, shrilly appraises her guests during a high school reunion. April (Meann Espinosa), an officemate of Gab’s, all but ropes him to Kiko. The first time they see each other again, Nicole shrieks, leaps, and clings onto Gab as if she’s found a misplaced plush toy.
Nevertheless, Sila-Sila has an odd, daydreamy look and a roominess missing in movies featuring gay characters determined to rebuke themselves. For someone who seems stuck, Gab moves around spaces: a motel room, an apartment, his workplace, a supermarket, a classmate’s house, his boyfriend’s house, and vehicles. Mirroring the opening scene, Gab slips into a stranger’s car to smoke pot. He flirts with the stranger (Boo Gabunada), and the stranger gamely flirts back. The moment of mutual curiosity relaxes something in Gab. He hears himself thinking aloud. Is it him after all who’s been left behind? When the stranger reminds Gab he’s straight, Gab smirks and says, “Noted. With Thanks.” Stoned and wearing his shirt inside out, he returns to the reunion and provokes his former classmates in an awkward parody of Linda’s spiel. He jumps into the swimming pool, cleansing himself from last year’s funk. He finally talks to Jared with a cooler head.
In a comic and tender scene, Jared drunkenly barges in on Gab and Max. But instead of hysterics, they treat one another with kindness. When asked if cheating on his wife bothers him, Max tells Gab, “Who told you I’m cheating on her? She knows I’m gay and all.” Demonstrating emotional sturdiness and a sense of clarity, Max talks about how the relationship has turned into an agreement that spares them from more hardship.
Topper Fabregas ably conveys Jared’s frustration, but he has only so much to work on. It’s a pity that the only other facet of Jared’s arrives rather late, almost an afterthought. The last fifteen or so minutes lurch into a weightless finale. What gives Sila-Sila a second wind is Gio Gahol’s graceful and openhearted disclosure. With his teasing, doe-eyed stare, Gab wanders into quarter-life sourness, hoping to arrive somewhere new. Gahol allows us to see Gab’s egoism, contradictions, and hypocrisy, but he also makes us care whether the man is going to get to where he’s supposed to be.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the 30th Annual Circle Citations for Distinguished Achievement in Film for 2019 is now scheduled on the first quarter of 2021 as a virtual event. The list of nominated and winning films can be found here. Reviews for these films, as well as other long-listed films, will be posted this week.