Messing around

By Maria Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

Movie Review
OPEN
Directed by Andoy Ranay

ALL OF THE actors on-screen in this sophisticated millennial relationship melodrama where most of the dialogue is in Filipino English, are extraordinarily good-looking and upwardly mobile, starting with the leads Arci Muñoz as Romina or Rome, an advertising creative, and JC Santos as Ethan, her boyfriend who appears to be in logistics. It’s not clear exactly what he does, except that he just made General Manager and his hot lady superior Erika (Ina Raymundo) is very pleased with him. However, scene after scene of gorgeous twenty-somethings with perfectly made up and lighted features, costumed in well-put together outfits, sipping wine, clubbing, or even getting it on in their spacious townhouse units, may not be enough to hold one’s interest. The audience was disturbingly silent throughout most of OPEN, directed by Andoy Ranay, in a Makati cinema, one of 200 where this film is being screened as part of the National Film Development Board’s Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino.

The plot revolves around the proverbial Seven Year Itch which in popular psychology refers to the time in a relationship when one or both of the partners gets restless and looks for his/her romantic or sexual thrills elsewhere. It is also the title of the classic 1955 Hollywood film by Billy Wilder, with that famous image of the blonde goddess Marilyn Monroe in a halter top and stilettos, standing with eyes shut and lips half-parted in orgasmic ecstasy, as her white dress blows upwards about her thighs.

In OPEN, it is a twice times seven-year itch as Ethan and Rome have been in a relationship for the last 14 years. They were high school sweethearts. Through it all, Ethan has never popped the question, although they have been living-in as we call it, and have even invested together in a condominium. He has already strayed at least once before, but Rome has forgiven him for that one instance of infidelity which she knew about. Such relationship transgressions are like cockroaches or mice: when you glimpse one in your kitchen, expect there to be scores or hundreds more hidden away out of sight. On the other hand, virtuous Rome claims that she has never been with another man except for Ethan.

At the film’s start, Rome is angling for Ethan to make a commitment to her greater than their co-owning pricey real estate. As Beyoncé sang, “If he likes it then he should put a ring on it.” Instead, he just laughs at her. She looks pained, which is the expression she has on throughout most of the film. When Ethan suggests that he and Rome also adopt an “open relationship,” just as their best friends have done, she agonizes but agrees, believing that this is the only way for them to save their relationship.

Rome does set the condition that all their “open” encounters must be of a purely sexual nature with absolute strangers. She doesn’t qualify though whether these new sex partners must remain strangers, and whether something like normal friendship might be allowed to develop should there conceivably be seconds or thirds in the near future. Neither seem especially concerned about the prospect of STDs or criminal behavior from a series of one-night stands. If satisfying one’s sexual needs were the sole purpose of having an open relationship, then hiring a vetted professional might be the more practical and straightforward course of action. It would probably be cheaper than having to spend for dinner while trying to hold a civilized conversation, or getting all gussied up to hit the clubs and compete with the herd.

Ethan goes for low-hanging fruit: his co-worker Erika, an older woman. Ina Raymundo has the cloyingly infantile voice of a daddy’s-dirty-little-girl, but her Erika has the impermeable hardness of a praying mantis. “I don’t like drama,” she makes it clear, before she grimly grabs Ethan, and pulls him towards her, the better to suck his little face. But regrettably, there is little humor in OPEN to lighten up all the personal human drama which doggedly wends its turbid way throughout.

Even when Rome uses her creative copywriter’s skills to weave a steamy story about how the stranger she picked up on her first “open” night had his way with her, Ethan’s supposed arousal as he listens to her is dully perfunctory and choreographed. The film is PG-13. Chemistry is not something one can command or switch on at will, and between them, these two gorgeous kids just ain’t got it. Neither do we feel invested in their emotional loss should their 14-year long relationship fall apart. Maybe that was already it’s natural lifespan, and now it is really time that they both move on. Hey, they’re both young, good-looking, with dream jobs, supportive friends and families — they’ll probably find someone else soon. The stakes are just not that high. To paraphrase Miley Cyrus in “Wrecking Ball”: “They clawed, they chained their hearts in vain, they jumped, never asking why…” But in the end, who really wants to know, or even cares? Pass the popcorn please.