Flick and Reruns: A Secret Affair
A film about love and betrayal set in an upper-crust Manila society, A Secret Affair is perhaps Viva' Film's return foray to the glossy dramas which it used to specialize decades ago.
In the eve of their wedding Raffy (Anne Curtis) backs out and takes a short furlough to think about things leaving her fiance Anton (Derek Ramsey) devastated, he later rekindles his one-night stand with Sam ( Andi Eigennman) who is part of Raffy's girl clique. Raffy returns and the couple reconcile much to the chagrin of Sam who would stop at nothing to get her man.
The ensuing situation provides the perfect set-up for one big girl war with bitchy dialogue et. al. And all too sudden in the ending the characters realize their moral lessons learned during the "upheaval."
And I guess this is what bedevils this film, the lack of coherent storytelling. It just saunters from one girl fight into another. A series of melodramatic scenes with an overdose of cringe-worthy speaking lines which seemed out of place with its high society set-up. In the end the "realistic" conclusion seemed illogical and befuddling.
The actors had to contend with the movie's poor material particularly the characters they had to portray are reed-thin, Derek Ramsey's seemed lost in his Anton character and Andi Eigennman acting brilliance is visibly hindered by the way her character was written. Anne Curtis seemed to be predictably trapped in that young rich girl role, shades of No Other Woman and When Love Begins.
However its the real-life mother-daughter tandem of Jacklyn Jose and Andi Eigenmman which puts their stamp into the film. After watching the movie, I would place Andi as among my current fave Pinoy actors/actresses alongside Nonie Buencamino and Art Acuna.
Technical-wise it's more "glossy" and sophisticated than No Other Woman, There were some superb camera work plus the cinematography which blended well with the aspirational high society setting the film wanted to portray.
In the eve of their wedding Raffy (Anne Curtis) backs out and takes a short furlough to think about things leaving her fiance Anton (Derek Ramsey) devastated, he later rekindles his one-night stand with Sam ( Andi Eigennman) who is part of Raffy's girl clique. Raffy returns and the couple reconcile much to the chagrin of Sam who would stop at nothing to get her man.
The ensuing situation provides the perfect set-up for one big girl war with bitchy dialogue et. al. And all too sudden in the ending the characters realize their moral lessons learned during the "upheaval."
And I guess this is what bedevils this film, the lack of coherent storytelling. It just saunters from one girl fight into another. A series of melodramatic scenes with an overdose of cringe-worthy speaking lines which seemed out of place with its high society set-up. In the end the "realistic" conclusion seemed illogical and befuddling.
The actors had to contend with the movie's poor material particularly the characters they had to portray are reed-thin, Derek Ramsey's seemed lost in his Anton character and Andi Eigennman acting brilliance is visibly hindered by the way her character was written. Anne Curtis seemed to be predictably trapped in that young rich girl role, shades of No Other Woman and When Love Begins.
However its the real-life mother-daughter tandem of Jacklyn Jose and Andi Eigenmman which puts their stamp into the film. After watching the movie, I would place Andi as among my current fave Pinoy actors/actresses alongside Nonie Buencamino and Art Acuna.
Technical-wise it's more "glossy" and sophisticated than No Other Woman, There were some superb camera work plus the cinematography which blended well with the aspirational high society setting the film wanted to portray.
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