Movie Review: Enjoyably Buoyant My Fairy Tail Love Story Takes Aim at Fairy Tale Endings

TL;DR: My Fairy Tail Love Story is a fluffy romantic comedy that riffs on Disney’s The Little Mermaid to reveal the complicated nature of love & sacrifice. It takes a while to show its true aims, though.

Early on in the cute & pleasant My Fairy Tail Love Story, an old woman named Lola Gurang (Rubi Rubi) warns Chantel (Janella Salvador), a spoiled, selfish woman who bosses everyone around her, about the mermaid’s curse. She tells the story of a mermaid who frolicked around the island & fell in love with a local fisherman. Chantel barely listens to her story & would rather have fun with her friends, so she cuts her off & claims she knows what happens next: the mermaid turns into a human thanks to a “true love’s kiss.” Chantel leaves in a huff, & under Lola Goreng’s breath, she declares that this isn’t an ordinary mermaid story.

She isn’t lying though. My Fairy Tail Love Story is a clever riff on Disney fairy tales, specifically The Little Mermaid, stuffed within a light romantic comedy for all ages. It’s a full of smart ideas about love in the context of fairy tales that’s already been tackled before, including by Disney themselves, but that doesn’t make it a less admirable effort.

When Chantel was ignoring Lola Goreng’s advice, she was on an island bought by her father for her 18th birthday; her parents are definitely rich but have separated, & her new stepmother is a nice, caring woman who used to be her nanny. When she picks up a heart-shaped stone at the bottom of the sea, she is cursed to become a mermaid who can never stop singing when she speaks. Both Chantel & her childhood friend Noah (Elmo Magalona) try to find a way to get her body back to normal. Chantel insists she needs to receive a “true love’s kiss,” while Noah insists they return to the island & ask for Lola Goreng’s help. She relents, but in a stroke of luck, the plane of famous international DJ named Ethan – who played in her birthday party – crashed on the same island she was cursed. She decides she’d rather get a true love’s kiss from Ethan & rescues him, which angers Noah, since she’s fallen in love with Chantel but has never told her yet.

It turns into a cheery, straightforward romantic comedy with elements of farce, as Chantel hides her mermaid form with the help of Noah from everyone, while the three leads are trapped in a typical love triangle. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s delightful enough that it never becomes a bore. Janella Salvador does her best impression of a privileged woman who demands everything to be about her, yet she never pushes Chantel into a grotesque caricature that she becomes overbearing. There’s an innate sweetness to Chantel that makes it easy to root for her. Both Elmo Magalona & Kiko Estrada are fine partners for Salvador & share great chemistry with her.

But it only delivers on Lola Gorang’s promise near the end, when it finally reveals its true intentions. It takes a while to get there, but it’s worth it, as it finally ties every thread in the movie into a treatise about the complicated nature of love & sacrifice in the real world; where a “happily ever after” isn’t always achievable. It does have the unfortunate side effect of piling on everything by the end that it feels rushed. That doesn’t make it less effective. Even if My Fairy Tail Love Story acknowledges that life isn’t a fairy tale, that doesn’t mean happy endings aren’t achievable. A love that ends is a chance to forge a new one that hopefully would last a lifetime.

Metro Manila Film Festival 2017: Deadma Walking Finds Heart & Humor in the Face of Death

TL;DR: Even with its cheap gay jokes & a rushed ending, Deadma Walking finds the heart & humor in its ridiculous premise.

Dark comedies about death are tricky to pull off. It’s a depressing topic that can be callous or insensitive if handled incorrectly, but if done right, it can shine a light on our foibles to cope at one of the few things that make us human. Death is no laughing matter, but it’s easier to laugh in the face of our demise. Why shouldn’t we? We’re all going to die anyway.

In that respect, Deadma Walking succeeds. It’s a hilarious farce that grows even more absurd until the very end, without ignoring the sweet relationship at the heart of the movie.

Jon (Joross Gamboa) is the rich gay son of a famous beauty queen who finds out he is terminally ill. Instead of dealing with the inescapable awareness of death like a normal person, he schemes with his flamboyant gay best friend Mark (Edgar Allan Guzman), a talented theater actor, to fake his own death & set up his own funeral while he’s still alive, since he wants people to remember him at his best & to see how his life would be celebrated; unlike her mother whose photos during her final days were spread all over the news, eclipsing who she was at her prime. Mark is initially hesitant, because it is an insane plan, but once he warms up to the idea, he becomes the host to an extravagant funeral dedicated to his best friend. Of course, complications arise, especially once her estranged sister returns to the Philippines.

But before we even get to the funeral, the movie takes its time to reveal the lives of Jon & Mark & their relationship as best friends. It’s a smart move, since it sets up the emotional foundation of the movie that makes it easier to buy into its crazy premise, even as the funeral becomes more absurd by the day. Joross Gamboa & Edgar Allan Guzman are great as best friends who will stick together through thick & thin. Edgar Allan Guzman has the flashier performance, due to Mark’s more energetic personality, while Joross Gamboa gives Jon a hint of sadness that shows how worried he is about his impending death.

Yet, it’s never depressing because the movie is ridiculously funny. The crazy premise allows it to come up with a bunch of ridiculous gags & an excuse for surprising cameos. Oddly enough, there are times where it uses the leads’ sexuality as a punchline, finding ways to make them act as stereotypical flamboyant gays at the sight of handsome, muscular men. Jokes like this ruin what could’ve a purely absurd farce, but the deep characterizations & silly jokes outweigh them.

By the movie’s end, it hones exactly what the movie is about, even if it resolves a conflict too neatly. It’s a tribute to the strong bond between two people who deeply care & love each other, even in the face of death. If you’re going to die sooner, you might as well have your best friend with you by your side.