Saan Nagtatago Si Happiness?

Rating:	★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Independent

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A movie of crazy, inspiring, and nonchalant moments, Saan Nagtatago Si Happiness? by PLM – CMC alumni Florida Bautista, director, and Real Florido, writer, ensures viewers a not-so-typical happiness after watching this film – and somehow made them search for their own happiness as well.

The quest to find the true meaning of happiness was not as sweet as Tikyo’s sorbetes, and Berna’s seek too was not enthralling akin to her voice.

Played by Andy Bais as Tikyo and Miccah Torre as Berna, the story is all about pursuit of self-fulfillment in life’s different aspects. And a powerhouse support cast of Caridad Sanchez, Ricky Davao, Nonie Buencamino, Nanette Inventor, Rez Cortez, January Isaac, and Darling Laviña spices up this enticing film further.

The production team behind last year’s Cinemalaya entry ICU Bed #7 is the same team behind this digital film. But unlike last year’s very successful entry, Happiness is not as remarkable prior to ICU Bed #7.

Only one of its kinds from all the entries, a musical feature is one of Happiness’ over-all packages. The offered queerness of this digital film makes it more interesting and worthy to watch. It has original songs – all of them – which were made also by a PLM – CMC alumnus Joan Jelica Lopez. The compositions were very suited on each scene’s portrayed emotions; may it be slow or up-beat, about dreaming or just purely having fun, the songs were effective and stimulating. This is worth commending, for it keeps up audiences’ attention. Though it made the movie seem out of the box, it is the only edge of this film.

And thank goodness there were those songs.

The story sequencing was not smooth. There were parts that were not properly placed on the order of scenes. It made a negative hanging impression on the viewers as well.

A lot of wasted shots were also seen throughout the film. Yes, wasted. Because of the non-eye-friendly shots, it lost its artistic side. It looked despicable, distracting, and creates an impression of a very low-budgeted and made-quickly-for-passing film on viewers thoughts. Instances were shots with no head rooms for the character being the subject of the scene. Another one would be some inconsistencies on scenes, particularly on Ricky Davao’s when he was eating Tikyo’s sold ice cream. On one angle, the ice cream looked less in amount, and one angle it showed the ice cream’s amount more than the first one showed; and the funnier thing was, those two shots were showed many times consequently. Some scenes that also need improvements were Berna’s moment on the stage where she was dreaming of being a diva, Berna’s singing contest, and of course, the last scene where Tikyo finally found his mom – what’s with the nurse? It would have been really better if the filmmakers have put more attention on shooting the scenes in a more artistic and eye-friendly way.

The editing was a mess. A lot of black spots would be noticed on transitions, which indicates a blank area on the film. Another factor would be the cutting of scenes while a character still talks and cutting without having the background music fade out before continuing to another scene. It looked very awkward, appalling, and also need a lot of improvements.

Some of the actors were praiseworthy, and some were worth slapping for! Bais, Torre, Sanchez, Davao, Buencamino, Inventor, and Cortez were among the cast of this film worth commending. Though youngest of the group, Miccah Torre portrayed her role very effectively, alongside her co-lead star Andy Bais who did his part impressively as well. As expected, veterans Caridad Sanchez and Ricky Davao did not fail the moviegoers’ expectations towards their acting prowess, they were really very effective. Surprisingly, the not-so-typical love team of Nanette Inventor and Rez Cortez here made viewers giggle and excited, making them effective as well. On the other hand, January Isaac and Darling Laviña were both lame on this film. They were even unnoticeable, because their way of acting wasn’t even enough to outshine other characters.

But despite of the many flaws of this movie, it still leaves a mark on everyone’s hearts. The value of contentment and the constant search for self-fulfillment are the two things here that made audiences mushy and teary-eyed at the end of the film.

Saan Nagtatago Si Happiness? is a feel-good, enjoyable movie for all ages. It may look low-budgeted and made-quickly-for-passing, but it is still worth the money, effort, and time. After all, a local, musical-themed movie is rarely offered on movie houses nowadays. And yes, this is worth a search for something like it!