Musings of a Medical Misfit

Three colllege seniors sneak out of their BRAINS NMAT review class in
Diliman one lazy Sunday afternoon to catch the screening of…wait,
that’s us.

Pero pwede.

Now that I think about it,
at that time, the main characters could very well be my friends. They
were your average teenagers. And they look so darn regular that
watching them felt like we were watching, well, ourselves.

Labs Kita is the story of rich girl Bujoy (Jolina Magdangal), an awkward teenager secretly in-love with her childhood bestfriend and neighbor Ned (Marvin Agustin).

Bujoy is an heir to a flower farm, Ned’s family runs a small lodging place. His father is a former guitarist who never made it big.

Both are artists - Bujoy sculpts, but doesn’t want the world to know. Like his father, Ned is a musician (pianist) who is having trouble finishing his song due to lack of inspiration.

They enter college, they get teased all the time by Ned’s bandmates, played by Vhong Navarro and a bunch of other Ang TV kids. Bujoy hangs out with histrionic Mayo (Meryll Soriano), the only person who knows about her real feelings toward Ned. Mayo also dresses like Jolina in real life, but let’s not get into that.

Vanessa del Bianco enters the picture as Mary Ann, Bujoy’s gorgeous balikbayan friend. Naturally, Ned falls for her and asks Bujoy to set them up on a date. Gio Alvarez plays Cenon, a Manileno who moves to Baguio for school. He joins Ned’s band, gets smitten when he meets Bujoy and then asks Ned to - surprise, surprise - set them up.

Because of Mary Ann and Cenon, the once inseparable bestfriends begin to spend less and less time together.

Bujoy joins a campus sculpture competition, and asks Ned to show his support. She requests for him to arrive early and not to bring Mary Ann because she wants to have his whole attention. Of course Ned shows up late - with Mary Ann in his arms - causing Bujoy to walk out of the competition. Ned chases her, and tells her that Mary Ann is there because they want her to be the first to know that they’re officially together.

Bujoy loses her cool and spills her real feelings by delivering the line which, IMO, sums up the whole movie:

"Oh
yes, kaibigan mo lang ako…and that’s all I was to you Ned…I am so
stupid for making the biggest mistake of falling in-love with my
bestfriend."

That’s it. That’s the whole movie right there. I can imagine the writer pitching this story to Star Cinema using that line.

Shocked, Ned tells her that he feels the same way but he doesn’t want to lose the friendship that’s why he doesn’t act on it.

Of course, eventually they end up together, but not after several Pinoy pampakilig scenes such as Ned finally finishing his song - with Bujoy as her inspiration, a dream sequence where Ned climbs up Bujoy’s room like he used to, and a bus-car chase down Marcos Highway.

Ironically, the best scene belongs to Ned’s parents, played by the luminous Gina Pareno and the dashing Ronaldo Valdez. When Gina tells Ned that he is just wasting his life on music the same way his father did, Ronaldo smashes his guitar against the wall and utters the line that - I swear - had almost everyone inside the whole cinema crying:

"Putangina
mo, hindi magmamana sa kin ang anak ko dahil wala siyang asawang
katulad mo…papa-Japan na ko noon eh pero pinamili mo ko, ikaw o ang
banda ko…natural ikaw pipiliin ko…mahal kita eh".

How two people who look like Ronaldo Valdez and Gina Pareno can produce a Marvin Agustin I have no idea.

Vanessa is lucky she gets to play her real annoying self as the gorgeous balikbayan who has guys wrapped around her fingers. Gio is believable, and incredibly cute. Vhong is  hilarious, especially when he banters with that other Streetboy. Meryll shows promise, but sometimes acts too much like her Tita Maricel.

The Gina Pareno-Ronaldo Valdez team-up is, to borrow Chandler Bing’s word, perfection.

And of course, Hilda Coronel is Hilda Coronel.

Marvin does good as Ned, if not for his high-pitched voice which annoys the hell out of me. His chemistry with Jolina is so strong it’s palpable.

But the movie belongs to - handsdown - Jolens. She’s Bujoy. There is no other way of saying this.

I
guess the brilliance of this movie lies on the fact that it is devoid
of pretenses. It doesn’t try to be anything than what it really is - a
simple love story about two average teenagers set in breathtaking
Baguio City.

Everything, everyone in this movie is just so darn real.

When Bujoy tells her mom that she feels insecure and ugly - who wouldn’t if your mom looks like Hilda Coronel  - we understand. No, we get her.

When she tries to set up but ends up sneakily discouraging Mary Ann from going out with Ned, we laugh, but we relate.

When she receives a bouquet of roses from Ned with a letter inviting her  to have dinner, we giggle, we hope.

When she sees Mary Ann and Cenon with Ned at Cafe Legarda and realizes that it’s actually a double date, our hearts bleed as well.

We cheer her on, we hate Mary Ann with a passion.

And why not - after all, who among us hasn’t fallen in-love with a dear friend?

First time I heard of this film, it was described to me by my friend R as a "sleeper".

Hey R - no offense meant, I love you, you’re a brilliant physician, but your taste in movies sucks.

High Fidelity is the movie adaptation of Nick Hornby’s cult novel of the same name. John Cusack stars as Rob Gordon, a thirty-something record store owner and compulsive top-five list maker who suffers from arrested development. After being dumped by his lawyer girlfriend Laura, effectively played by the ice-cool Iben Hjejle, he proceeds to make a list of his top five failures in the relationship department.

Alright, alright. Me writing an unbiased, emotionless review of a Cusack film - not possible.

So in true High Fidelity fashion, let me just present my

Top Five Reasons Why High Fidelity Rocks:

5. The kick-ass music.

The Clash. The Velvet Underground. Stiff Little Fingers. Stereolab. The Kinks.

Heck, any movie that succeeds in making the incredibly sappy Peter Frampton song "Baby I Love Your Way" and the equally mushy Stevie Wonder hit "I Believe (When I Fall in Love with You It Will Be Forever)" cool deserves a viewing.

Admittedly, I was such a sucker for britpop back in college (Oasis, Suede, anyone?), so it should be no surprise that one of my ultimate favorite scenes is when Rob whispers "I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band" to Dick and then proceeds to play Dry the Rain.

And when everyone inside Championship Vinyl started bobbing their heads to the music - that just about killed me.

I mean, pass me the darn lighter, will you?

If there’s something inside that you wanna say

Say it out loud it’ll be okay

I will be your light

I will be your light
I will be your light

I will be your light

4. The hot girls.

The breathtaking Joelle Carter as Penny Hardwick - Rob’s perky high school girlfriend who wouldn’t put out, the impossibly cute Natasha Gregson Wagner as Caroline Fortis the music reviewer, the sultry Lisa Bonet who plays the role of musician Marie de Salle and does a very sexy renditon of Baby I Love Your Way, the Danish delight - and probably the only girl who can rock ultra-short bangs - Iben Hjejle as Laura . Heck, even Indie queen Lili Taylor shines as Sara Kendrew.

And of course, the goddess herself, Catherine Zeta Jones, who plays Charlie Nicholson, Rob’s college girlfriend - the yardstick by which every other girl who came after her was measured.

It was as if the producers saw the need to lure guys into the theater and tried to do just that by casting these eye candies.

3. The musical moron twins.

Ok, so Jack Black as Barry has all the good lines and he’s everybody’s favorite, but I think Tod Louiso is the real gem here. Unlike Black who has a tendency to be annoying, Louiso does not overact, and fits the role of the shy, weird Dick to a T.

Oh, and move on Jeremy Piven, their chemistry with Cusack is just unbelievable.

2. The wit.

"Should I bolt every time I get that feeling in my gut when I meet someone new? Well, I’ve been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I’ve come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains."

Check out this site for more.

Interestingly enough, Jack Black delivers the best line in the film, which goes:

"Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the ’80s and ’90s? Go.
Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins?
Is it better to burn out than to fade away?"

1. The John Cusack

John Cusack is probably the only Hollywood actor who can make a dorky asshole character seem like a sweet, adorable guy who just doesn’t know what he wants. In true loser fashion, Rob slacks off, smokes like he has a deathwish, cheats on his girlfriends just for the heck of it, but we cheer him on anyway.

That’s the Cusack effect for you.

Oh, and he talks to the viewers in, like, 50% of the movie, so if just like me you’re harboring an unhealthy JC obsession, this film is a real treat.

Plus, I think Cusack looks his best here. I mean, sure, he was incredibly dashing in Grosse Point Blank as the fresh-faced hitman who goes home for his high school reunion, but IMO, JC in High Fidelity takes the cake. He’s scruffy, his hair’s a mess all throughout, he’s wearing a - in the words of Black - "Cosby sweater" in one scene for crying out loud, but my god, he’s still too darn cute.

Of course, the movie has its flaws - what movie doesn’t - but I won’t get into that.

The important thing is, in the end, everything makes sense. And you’re smiling when the closing credits roll.

That must be something.

If you’re about to be married to someone who looks exactly like Bridget Moynahan, would you still search for the flighty British babe you met seven years ago?

You would, if you’re Jonathan Trager.

Serendipity
is an utterly predictable movie about Hollywood’s most over-used
four-letter concept - no, not that other f-word - I’m talking about FATE.

John Cusack is Jonathan Trager, a segment producer for ESPN with a dorky haircut, who meets big-haired Sara Thomas, played by the charming Kate Beckinsale,
when they reach for the same pair of black cashmere gloves in
Bloomingdales one December evening, which they both plan to give to
their significant others as a Christmas gift.

 

No wonder sparks fly - they have the worst taste in gifts, and they both have bad hair.

They go out on an impromptu date, starting off with frozen chocolate drinks at Serendipity
restaurant, they ice skate. They flirt the whole time, yet when they’re
about to call it a night, she refuses to give him her name and number,
citing destiny. She asks him instead to write his contact info on a $5
bill, then goes off to spend it on some gum. She tells him she would
write her name and number on her copy of Love in the Time of Cholera which she’d sell to a bookstore the next morning.

Jonathan
doesn’t give up, so she drags him inside the Waldorf Astoria and they go up
separate elevators - she believes if they pick the same floor then it’s
meant to be. They both hit the button for the 23rd floor, but something
happened along the way, and Jonathan loses her.

 

Fast forward seven years. Jonathan sports a better haircut, and is about to be married to a woman who looks like she just jumped out of Vogue. Sara
thankfully loses the big hair, and is seen interviewing patients. This
was a eureka moment for me because finally, I found an explanation why
she acts like a loon: she’s a shrink in training. Believe it or not,
one of the most unstable people I know finished a four-year residency
in Psychiatry.

Jonathan’s engaged to Halley, a nice girl who looks like a supermodel, Sara’s the girlfriend of Lars, an internationally-famous New Age musician who has sold-out European concerts, and they still decide to find each other?

In the words of Jonathan’s bestfriend Dean, played by Jeremy Piven, "that’s lucid."

Of
course, we know they’d eventually find each other, and they’d live
happily ever after - or at least, last long enough to celebrate their
anniversary by drinking wine on paper cups in the middle of
Bloomingdales.

Serendipity is a harmless movie. Everyone is so darn likable. Beckinsale is lovely, and it surprisingly doesn’t bother me that she apparently tries to be another Meg Ryan, what with all the nose wrinkling she does in this film. Molly Shannon is effective as Sara’s bestfriend Eve - no surprise there since it’s a character she can play in her sleep. Eugene Levy
as the Bloomingdales salesman is on screen for, like, ten minutes, but
the brief time he’s there, he manages to steal the show from everyone.

But the real saving grace of the movie is - and I’m not being biased here - John Cusack.
He’s adorable as always and delivers lines like they were his own. He
also seems to have mastered the art of captivating the audience with
everything he does - he smirks, he frowns, he sighs, we fall.

Cusack and Beckinsale do alright as star-crossed lovers but the real chemistry here is between Cusack and real-life bestfriend Jeremy Piven. Piven may not be as great-looking as Cusack  but  it’s obvious these two have been exchanging acting tips for years. Hey, if he’s good enough for La Lohan, he’s good enough for us.

And just like any other formulaic cotton-candy love stories, you don’t feel bad for the dumpees -  Halley is perfect anyway, and Lars, let’s just say that someone who has, like, a rockstar status in New Age Music will be just fine.

 

Obvious plot holes aside, I’d still recommend Serendipity. It’s a nice, feel-good, lazy-Saturday afternoon movie.

 

Oh,
and if you love JC, you’d have to watch it if only to catch one of the
last scenes - he stands in the middle of the skating rink,
handsome-yet-unassuming in a brown collared button-down over a blue
shirt and skinny black pants, a tear cascading down his right eye, as
he finally sees Sara again.

Everything that man does is pure magic.

Only two types of people can fully appreciate the brilliance of this Cameron Crowe masterpiece: awkward love-sick teenagers, and adults who are going through a terrible heartbreak. The others, yes, they may like it, but it won’t affect them the way it’d hit these two groups of unfortunate souls.

 

When I first watched Say Anything I thought it was good, but nothing to write home about. Although well-written and well-executed, I noticed Crowe was a bit confused - it started hysterical but when the romance kicked in the comedy started to fade away.

 

I also didn’t particularly like the ending, but hey, I guess since it was obviously meant for the 15-20 age range, it had to end that way. And when the plot revolves around two mismatched teenagers, why should anyone over 21 care?

 

And I dunno if I’m having hearing defects in my old age or my downloaded copy just had volume problem but I couldn’t make out most of the dialogues. Oh, and my copy skips too - almost half of the time.

 

So I guess it should be no surprise that the first time I watched it I didn’t love it as much as I expected I would. I thought I’d breathe…hmn more like pant like crazy when I finally find a copy. I mean yum…err young John Cusack, what’s more to ask right?

By the way, what’s masculine for nubile?

My verdict then: I watched Say Anything a decade too late. Where the hell was I back in ‘89 when it could have meant more to me? Hmn, now I remember - I was 11, and a promdi bookworm burying my curly ringlets in the twisted lives of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield.

But few days after I dismissed Say Anything as "good, but not phenomenal", life bit me in the rear, yakked me out of my comfortable deluded shell, and before I knew it I was aching for the film and not my staple treat, Ever After.

And then it hit me.

 

Hard.

Say Anything is about Lloyd Dobbler (John Cusack) - Diane Court (Ione Skye) is just a garnish. Lloyd is a nice young underachiever with no plans for college and is looking out for a career in "kickboxing - sports of the future." He falls for their high school valedictorian who’s on her way to England for college, the vapid Diane. Lloyd hangs out with girls - Corey (Lili Taylor) and D.C.(Amy Brooks). The girls warn him against going for the "brain trapped in the body of a gameshow host."

By the way, I know quite a few high school valedictorians, and I have never met anyone who has a face and a body like Diane’s.

Lloyd fidgets and paces but musters the courage to ask Diane to the after-graduation party. She agrees. They go to the party and everybody wonders how he got Diane to agree to go with him. He gets assigned to be the key master, high fives Mark ("You Must Chill!"), played by Jeremy Piven, who’s a lot cuter and has a lot more hair than, well, nowadays.

 

Lloyd bumps into his high school career counselor who asks him what his plans for college are. He tells her he doesn’t intend to go to community college, and is looking for a dare-to-be-great situation, and that honestly, he doesn’t know what he wants, but at least unlike the others, he knows that he doesn’t know.

They pass by a 7-11 on their way home, and Lloyd points to her some glass to walk around. Diane starts falling. She brings him to a family dinner next. Diane’s father and bestfriend asks him his plans for the future, and he replies,

 

"I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I dont want to sell anything bought or processed or buy anything sold or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed as a career. I dont want to do that."

They spend more time together, fall in-love, but agree to be just "friends….with potential" but have sex at the back of Lloyd’s car anyway.

He afterwards proclaims his love by sending her a letter, she reciprocates by breaking up with him, and giving him a pen.

With his heart ripped into pieces, Lloyd seeks out his guy friends at a Gas ‘N Sip. They tell him that Diane isn’t worth it, that she’s just a show pony and what he needs is a stallion - all he has to do is to find someone who looks like Diane, nail her, and then dump her. Lloyd asks,

"I got a question: if you guys know so much about women, how come you’re here at like the Gas ‘n Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?"

He drives around, walks in the rain - it always rains in Cusack films - and leaves messages in her answering machine, the last of which goes, - "Maybe I didn’t really know you. Maybe you were just a mirage. Maybe the world is full of food and sex and spectacle and we’re all just hurling towards an acropolis, in which case it’s not your fault. I’ve been thinking about all these things and….you’re probably standing there monitoring. And one more thing — about the letter. Nuke it, flame it, destroy it — it hurts me to know it’s out there. Later."

 And then The Boombox Scene.

It is believed that every girl born between 1965 and 1978 is inlove with John Cusack because of this scene. Lloyd, irresistible in sweatpants, a white shirt, high-cut trainers, and tan trenchcoat, holds a boombox over his head, serenading Diane with their song, Peter Gabriel’s "In Your Eyes".

It’s not the boombox, nor the song, but Lloyd’s pained look on his young face, like he’s on the verge of bursting into tears but tries desperately to save some of his pride - that’s what killed me.

 

Diane finds out that his father is guilty for stealing money from the patients in his nursing home, goes to the gym to look for Lloyd - who gets punched in the face when he lost concentration upon seeing Diane there - and they get back together.

 

Diane’s father goes to jail, and Lloyd joins Diane in England.

 

Diane: "Nobody think’s it will work, do they?"

Lloyd, "No. You’ve just described every great success story."

Despite these brilliant lines, I honestly still prefer a different ending.

John Mahoney is excellent as Diane’s father. He’s solid and composed and I like that his character doesn’t stop Diane from seeing Lloyd. The look on his face when Diane tells him that despite thinking about it and deciding not to sleep with Lloyd, she "attacked him anyway" - that’s just priceless. Fine, fine acting, especially during the bathtub scene shortly before he was jailed.

 

Lili Taylor is phenomenal. She steals the show from everyone, including Lloyd, whenever she’s in the screen. It’s like seeing what Alanis Morisette was like before the fame and the money came in. Amy Brooks as D.C. is a snoozefest, but I can’t blame her - her character is so dry and droll Crowe could have cast a flowerpot there and it wouldn’t make any difference.

 

Joan Cusack is in the film for maybe three minutes as Lloyd’s sister.

My most favorite character is, handsdown, Lloyd’s nephew. He’s cute, he’s adorable, and at maybe 4 or 5 years old, already shows unbelievable promise. That’s pure talent right there. I wonder what happened to this kid, and why isn’t his name credited anywhere?

 

Ione Skye is gorgeous but not quite believable as Diane. She’s a vamp and a brain, sure, but I don’t see what Lloyd sees in her. I mean, Lloyd isn’t a typical teenage guy whose criteria for the perfect girl can be summed up in six words - pretty with a body to match - so why did Crowe forget to give the Diane character some depth?

 

Of course, Say Anything isn’t Say Anything without The John Cusack. He’s honest, he’s sincere, he’s a natural. He nails this role as the smitten love-sick teenager whose heart was ripped into tiny pieces when the love of his life rejected him.

 

When Lloyd stands with that boombox over his head, when he shakes and says it happens when he’s happy, when he calls her sister in a phonebooth and tells her, "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen," he gives me chills.

 

Say Anything is smart, incredibly honest, and no American Pie - but the genius of this film lies in the fact that is that it is one of the very few movies out there who captures the feeling of love.

When Lloyd looks at Diane, you see it. You feel it.

 

Pure, genuine, unconditional love.

 

That’s almost impossible to find these days.

 

ps

Anyone kind enough to lend me the DVD?

->Oh, not a Cusack post, you say.

But hey, I can’t help it. I am inlove. Even after I found this . If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what true love is.

He’s a brilliant actor, and he talks sense. I’m spending most of my time googling him and watching his films than, say, studying, sure, but at least I think I’m getting something out of it.

Here’s a few lessons/warnings/whatever I got from obsessing over He Who Can Do No Wrong:

Cusack-ism #1: how does an average guy like me become the number one lover-man in his particular postal district? He’s grumpy, he’s broke, he hangs out with the musical moron twins…

From my favorite JC movie, High Fidelity.

I’ve seen it happen so many times: I’m sorry Mr. Sensitive/Gentleman/Scholar, but in life, the average-bordering-on-loser guy gets the girls.

I guess women just love basketcases.

Cusack-ism #2: What the hell’s wrong with being stupid once in awhile?

From The Sure Thing.

Like getting three holes on each ear because you wanted to wear three pairs of silver earrings. Or dyeing your hair crimson in honor of Angela Chase. Or wearing Doc Martens to the prom eventhough you knew you were going up the stage to transfer the stupid key of responsibility (or was it book of knowledge? can’t remember anymore) to the lower batch. Or drinking until you’re so pissed you’re puking on your way home.

Or, you know, going to med school just for the hell of it.

Sometimes, it’s when you’re being completely, utterly stupid that you get to have the very best time.

Cusack-ism #3: A lot of people are not meant to be together.

Brad and Jen. Sharon and Gabby. Aimee and B. Me and Biggest Obsession. No matter how long you’ve been with each other, or how hard you work at it, I guess some people are not meant to be together.

Cusack-ism #4: Usually I play people who just keep babbling on and on and on.

This is admittedly one of my bad habits. What can I say, I’m stupid. I get amused when people ramble that I play along just for them to keep doing such. Sounds pointless, yes, but hey, who says everything you do should make sense?

Cusack-ism #5: Sometimes you meet people and you feel like you’ve known them for a long time.

Believe it or not, it’s from an interview. Not from Serendipity.

This has happened to me a few times. It goes like this - I meet someone, either in real life or online, I talk to them, I feel like I’ve known them forever. We keep talking, my wall melts, I get attached, and just when I start to believe I struck gold, they vanish. I mean, sure, some stay. But some just….

Cusack-ism #6: Some people, yeah, they’ll just go.

It’s true. They will just go. Most of the times without an explanation. They just disappear from your life. I mean, you think you’re very good friends with someone, you laugh, you share secrets, you call each other up, write rambling letters, make plans, and then just like that, he/she would disappear into thin air.

When they come back - if they ever do come back - things are simply not the same.

People pull this kind of shit all the time. They come into your life, they mess with your mind, then they go.

What the f*ck, life goes on.

Cusack-ism #7: Well, I’ve been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I’ve come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.

UST Biology -> UPD Philosophy -> UST Biology -> UST Medicine -> UERM Medicine -> Nursing.

Enough said.

Cusack-ism #8:  They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and, you know, they’ve all made themselves a part of something and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How’ve you been?"

Or, in my case, "I’m 28 years old, I’m about to finish my third degree, and well, hey mom, where’s my allowance?"

The line’s from Grosse Point Blank by the way.

I could go on and on - and there are a lot remaining - but I guess the point of this rambling post can be summed up in a single sentence.

Almost everything I really needed to know about myself at this point in my life I learned from John Cusack.

Thank you, JC. I love you.

ps

"Loosen up, have some fun! Yes, sleep when you feel like it, not when you think you should. Eat food that is bad for you - at least once in a while. Have conversations with people whose clothes are not color coordinated. Make love in a hammock! Life is the ultimate experience, and you have to live it to write about it."

- Professor Taub, The Sure Thing