Billie & Emma is a girl-meets-girl high school romance comedy that could have been better.
The opening scene introduces us to Billie (Zar Danton) standing near a rural waiting shed. Restless and displaced, she lights a cigarette and discards it after a few puffs. A Manileña, she just arrived in the green and airy town of San Isidro. She would continue the rest of her high school education at St. Gerard, an all-girls religious school in the said town after her father found out she was a lesbian. In school, she meets Emma (charming performance from Gabby Padilla), a bright-eyed star student, who notices Billie for her defiant attitude, manly stance, and her odd choice to wear combat boots in school.
Writer and director Samantha Lee surely has a lot of things to say on homosexuality, its effect on relationships, pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, and abortion. But unfortunately most of her musings remained only in dialogue, not realized on screen.
Consider this God's Not Dead-like scenario where Billie's religion teacher, also her aunt, Miss Castro (Cielo Aquino) highlights homosexuality as a sin, pulling a verse from the Bible. Of course, Billie debated her in victory. But this moment came across as abrupt and forced, and so did the 'egg funeral' scene knocked off from 3 Idiots when Rancho confronted Virus. While it did build Castro's character, the scene, along with her reading of Rubyfruit Jungle, did little to establish her change of heart and quick confession later on. Characters also speak in a mix of English and Filipino, and it contributed to the film's preachy tone.
This is not to say the film does not have its moments. Emma's unfettered and modish mother (Beauty Gonzales) is entertaining and she provides some of the best scenes. One scene, surprised me when Emma confessed her pregnancy to her mother. Beauty's character reacted casually, contrary to audience expectations which earned laughs. Also the scene when Emma publicly announced her pregnancy in the middle of a flag ceremony, and later drew support from her classmates to protest "Save the baby!" is hilarious.
Subtle symbolisms were also present. Emma and her mother calmly talking about abortion while working on clothes hangers was unsettling and strong. One of the two long takes I spotted was interesting: same-sex lovers romancing in the foreground with a blurry church in the background; the other was plainly ineffective and unnecessary, just to set them up for a kiss. The 90s high school setting was almost effective but not fully harnessed, a watered-down ABNKKBSNPLAko?! vibe.
It's evident the film is pro-choice. Characters make bold decisions and thinks little about traditions, norms, and morals, which I respect. It's just that I felt it juggled too many of its underexecuted themes. It struggled to simultaneously appeal and give lessons to the audience. But an audience? Yes, it has.
Original review first published on Atenews (06/29/2019)
The opening scene introduces us to Billie (Zar Danton) standing near a rural waiting shed. Restless and displaced, she lights a cigarette and discards it after a few puffs. A Manileña, she just arrived in the green and airy town of San Isidro. She would continue the rest of her high school education at St. Gerard, an all-girls religious school in the said town after her father found out she was a lesbian. In school, she meets Emma (charming performance from Gabby Padilla), a bright-eyed star student, who notices Billie for her defiant attitude, manly stance, and her odd choice to wear combat boots in school.
Writer and director Samantha Lee surely has a lot of things to say on homosexuality, its effect on relationships, pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, and abortion. But unfortunately most of her musings remained only in dialogue, not realized on screen.
Consider this God's Not Dead-like scenario where Billie's religion teacher, also her aunt, Miss Castro (Cielo Aquino) highlights homosexuality as a sin, pulling a verse from the Bible. Of course, Billie debated her in victory. But this moment came across as abrupt and forced, and so did the 'egg funeral' scene knocked off from 3 Idiots when Rancho confronted Virus. While it did build Castro's character, the scene, along with her reading of Rubyfruit Jungle, did little to establish her change of heart and quick confession later on. Characters also speak in a mix of English and Filipino, and it contributed to the film's preachy tone.
This is not to say the film does not have its moments. Emma's unfettered and modish mother (Beauty Gonzales) is entertaining and she provides some of the best scenes. One scene, surprised me when Emma confessed her pregnancy to her mother. Beauty's character reacted casually, contrary to audience expectations which earned laughs. Also the scene when Emma publicly announced her pregnancy in the middle of a flag ceremony, and later drew support from her classmates to protest "Save the baby!" is hilarious.
Subtle symbolisms were also present. Emma and her mother calmly talking about abortion while working on clothes hangers was unsettling and strong. One of the two long takes I spotted was interesting: same-sex lovers romancing in the foreground with a blurry church in the background; the other was plainly ineffective and unnecessary, just to set them up for a kiss. The 90s high school setting was almost effective but not fully harnessed, a watered-down ABNKKBSNPLAko?! vibe.
It's evident the film is pro-choice. Characters make bold decisions and thinks little about traditions, norms, and morals, which I respect. It's just that I felt it juggled too many of its underexecuted themes. It struggled to simultaneously appeal and give lessons to the audience. But an audience? Yes, it has.
Original review first published on Atenews (06/29/2019)
