A Love Story

Is Aga Muhlach a sexy actor? Perhaps a survey is in order. He was certainly one of the most valuable faces of the 80's, and his trademark boyish appeal seemed to spill over into the next decades even as he aged. His latest movie A Love Story coincides with the packaging of a buffer Aga Muhlach, not-so-afraid to show off some flesh, as seen in magazines nationwide. His role in the film sounds sexy: a man torn between sexual affairs with two women, and who's also somewhat of a stunted man-child with father issues. The actor's newly toned bod is on discreet display for several combined seconds in the film.

Is A Love Story a sexy movie? Probably not, and that's the problem. It's a drama where people talk or shout, explain themselves in words, but I couldn't feel the dirt of their insides, the desires that make them tick or push them to do wrong things. The scenes lack a tactile specificity. Though Muhlach here is the most attractive he's been for quite some time, he failed to move me. He doesn't create chemistry with his women (Maricel Soriano and Angelica Panganiban). He can't even connect with his father or his family, not with the pain and not with the sincerity. He's a guy who should burn, but doesn't. Sexy is not merely about looking good. With a character like his, I wanted to see masculine guts exposed, splattered, poked. I wanted a man who could hold my attention, perhaps trigger fascination, by baring himself. Panganiban, as the younger woman, displays flashes of heat that was crucial. She was alive. Everyone else, I couldn't understand.

There's a clever structural gimmick that reverses our expectations, both in cinema and in real life, of extramarital affairs. Some call it a "twist". It's the best thing about this movie, if only anything that came before or after it were enjoyable to watch.

GRADE: D

Related Link:
Official Movie Site