MOVIE REVIEW: Love, Sex, Drugs, and Suicidal Tendencies on “#Y”

“Being happy and having no right to be unhappy are two completely different things.”

The film directed by Gino Santos (‘Island Dreams‘) is more than what it sells –the sex, drugs, and tales of the wasted youth– it’s more specifically about a twenty something diagnosed with clinical depression and borderline schizophrenia and how he’s dealing with the life ahead of him.

#Y has a style of storytelling that steers away from giving sympathy to its lead characters but that won’t keep you from caring. The cinematography, the musical scoring, the energetic vibe it gives off– they fall nothing short of Santos’ trademark that would really engage the audience. But the plot is nothing new to me since it’s reminiscent of Joselito Altarejos’ ‘Unfriend‘ with its commentary on the generation today and a macro view of the emotionally unstable youth.

What’s impressive with #Y was the execution and casting. Everything just felt natural and well directed. Elmo Magalona really stood out from this film. His acting improved a lot, far from what I’ve seen on his stint at ‘Just One Summer’. It just proves how the right material can bring out the best in you. Coleen Garcia, Kit Thompson, and Sophia Albert provided their own individual characters impressively portraying a no nonsense liberated woman, a drug addict sex maniac douche, and an insecure virgin, respectively. Meanwhile Slater Young is mysterious and annoyingly adorable as Mark and Chynna Ortaleza is at her best portraying a brief yet necessary role as Abby, the girl whom Miles talks to in the suicide hotline.

It also seem to be heavily inspired by Catcher in the Rye, which is even cited in one of the scenes. Elmo’s Miles is the closest Holden Caulfield we could get in the local cinema: his crazy line of thought, his allergy to phonies, his fondness for a girl.  The religion scene with Jana (Coleen Garcia) is also reminiscent of Caulfield. I like the reference so much, to tell you the truth.

Moreover, #Y is a mirror of the current millennial. It is a reminder that some things are just beyond our understanding and even if we care, we could only help so much. After all, to be understood and to be misunderstood is not so much.

This review was first published in the author’s blog, “Misstache.”