aysabaw.com

On Vodka, Beers and Regrets revolves around the story of Jane Pineda (Bella Padilla) who was struggling with her alcohol addiction while watching the slow death of her showbiz career. Jane meets Francis (JC Santos), a vocalist of a band who had a crush on her in high school while she was at the peak of her career. They fall in love. She changes.

The end.

Sounds like a typical love story.

It is. But it’s not. And it is beautiful.

A picture of a sad and ugly reality, beautifully made into a movie pulling some heart strings here and there.

I haven’t watched a Pinoy movie on the big screen for I don’t know how long. And lucky me, I finally came in time for a good movie.

I heard a lot of good things about Bela and I’ve been dying to see just any of her movies to see what some people have been raving about.

The title of the movie sounded funny to me, it’s like just any blog title. Not something very interesting. Reading it is like already knowing what the movie is about – drunken nights and one night stands – an assumption I felt proven when I saw the trailer. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to see the movie. I wanted to see that Bela movie.

The husband and I went to the movie house and the choice was to watch Birds of Prey or On Vodka, Beers and Regrets. I knew what I wanted. I also knew what my husband wanted. Luckily for me, he asked me what I wanted to watch. I chose the latter. He shouldn’t have asked me if he wanted to watch the first. He didn’t like it and it showed when he fell asleep while I was sobbing.

The story is simple. About a complicated life of a girl. It’s so simple it’s not like watching a movie. Nothing fancy. It’s like watching someone’s real life, put into a screen. There’s nothing cheesy. There’s no heavy drama either. Nothing like a John Lloyd-Bea drama. You won’t see Bela nor JC screaming or crying in pain, walling, taking several minutes of the total movie duration just for the crying scene, both characters on the other end of the closed door, one screaming at the other to leave, the other begging to stay.

And that made this movie beautiful.

Tears rolled down my eyes just at the mere scene of Jane waking up in the hospital apologizing for ditching Francis’ gig the previous night because she went somewhere else to drink. And Francis telling her, it’s ok because he loves her. And that she doesn’t need to answer. She doesn’t need to do anything. She just needs to let him love her.

JC’s delivery was on point. Not cheesy. Not something that will make a girl kilig. Just what was needed for the scene.

But, ok. Maybe this scene won’t make you cry as yet. Maybe I’m too shallow. Maybe I have internalized the movie that much to be affected by that scene. Just that scene. Or maybe, I just really felt them – Jane and Francis.

I cried that Francis just kept loving Jane unconditionally. I cried when Jane finally realizes that he loves Francis too and that she is willing to change for him. I cried when Francis almost gave up on her because she has gone from bad to worse due to her alcohol addiction.

There’s not much characters in the movie, and I don’t think there’s any need. It was light and dark at the same time, showing how our lives are. We can be floating with all the love that we feel now and feel sad, lonely and confused the next minute. And that’s life. This movie is about life. It’s more than just a love story. Not just a movie about drunken nights and one night stands.

My husband complained to me about the movie and he said it was so boring. I said I cried during the movie. He asked why. I couldn’t give him a reason and I will just leave it like that.

*images not mine