Kita Kita: Love is Believing without Seeing

Rating:  What are you waiting for… Go watch it!

I get easily carried away with hypes on things.  Am I a sucker…. yes, I am, yes, I am    I have an almost childlike innocence when it comes to my movie-viewing habits and I readily accept the judgment of others…. questioning only after I render my own verdict after watching a movie.  It happened before….. a lot of times actually  

I was reserving this movie for a better time…. when there are extra funds or more ideal time or a generous soul who might treat me to a movie date.  When work got suspended last Thursday, I actually considered watching a movie.  My choice was a toss-up between the LLoydie-Sarah starrer I Finally Found Someone and Kita Kita.  To be honest, I was leaning on watching the the more popular over the obscure first even if I intended to watch both.  It was not the ultimate choice eventually as I opted to just get a much-needed massage at home.  I said the movie can wait.

Until the sucker in me emerged after hearing and reading so much hype about the obscure film in the next two days.  My usual movie companion, MD, wasn’t home.  ED already watched the movie with MD actually.  How could they have squeezed in a movie date with their skeds.  I invited K, my trusted helper, to watch the movie with me in the evening.  We set off after dinner.

Kita kita is a one hour and a half long endearing and poignant movie that makes the movie-goers believe in the saying that “Love, that is true love, is blind.  For some reason, the Janis Ian’s song resonates with this movie.  It is gentle, yet affecting.  Empoy’s hugot lines are not forced.  His nonchalant delivery makes them effective and heart-felt.

The use of simple things for symbolism is very effective and clever.  The Sapporo beer can put Tonyo in that train to the point of no return where he would heal his heart moving from desperation to inspiration using the same can to follow his heart.  The heart girl and banana man were cleverly used as characters within the main characters going through the stages of love and affection.  The fastidiousness of making the thousandth crane to depict a fervent wish for the beloved was not lost …. The music box, the bell are good reminders of the child in us.

The plants and the watering pot in Lea’s al fresco setting take off the weariness of her daily struggles and served as Empoy’s route to win her trust.

The beautiful sights in Hokkaido provided captivating backdrops to the unfolding love story of Lea and Empoy as they danced in the streets of  Sapporo, ride a bike, eat ramen or admire the myriads of colors in Yurigahara Park.   I am sure that these off-beaten tracks are now in your bucket list.  Remember how Liz (Julia Roberts) discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali in Eat Pray Love and how we fell for these places too.

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It’s essentially a two-actor film.  Alessandra De Rossi as Lea is expected to deliver a good performance.  Empoy Marquez as Tonyo is a clear winner as he uses charm and silliness to be winsome and eventually win his object of affection.

 

As Tonyo endeared himself to Lea, I and maybe a lot of movie-goers would be expecting the worst to come once Lea regains her sight.  The beautiful Lea can reject someone like the plain-looking Tonyo whose face will be her first vision when her sight returns.  Tonyo, who actually left Lea on the sidewalk, may just fade away too, sensing that Lea is slowly regaining her vision.  Well, don’t look at me…. but that is how the mind of someone too exposed to the usual rom-coms works  as I tried to get ahead of the story.

Two-thirds of the movie is the story of Lea.  The story of Tonyo was shuffled like a deck of cards in the last few minutes as Lea turns the key and enters his world….. browsing through his stuff, the pictures, the banana costume, the paper cranes… viewing outside from his perspective …. and reading that fateful letter that tells it all.  After realization, Lea’s pain must have been more unbearable than her first heartbreak.

As sucker as I can be, I was actually expecting the tried and tested formulaic rom-com fairy tale ending to boost my feel-good vibes when Lea and Tonyo got close.  But no….  Lea is no Cinderella and Tonyo is no Prince Charming and I’m no kid for heaven’s sake.  I am dealt instead with a bittersweet ending….  the reality of a loss so unexpected, painful….. it left me reeling …. struggling to understand how Lea could still cope with the terrible loss of one who truly loves.

This is not a tear-jerker by any indication but prepare to feel a pinch in your heart or even to shed a tear or two.  I must congratulate Director Sigrid Bernardo for making us experience the highs and lows of love in this delighful and whimsical rom-com with a twist.

K and I got out of the theater with lightness in our steps…..  The good vibes lingered as my sleep was sound and my dreams were sweet.  I woke up this morning believing that not all fairy tales should necessary end with the characters living happily ever after but that true love endures come what may.