WalWal: A Film by Jose Javier Reyes

#WalWalOfficialMovieTrailer
Adjective. walwal. baggy; loose. haggard. having the tongue hanging out (as a tired dog)-Wiktionary (walwal is lawlaw in reverse), but Nestor Cuartero wrote in his article that Walwal” is derived from a popular slang that Millennials frequently use. The term is believed to emanate from the phrase “walang pakialam” and its closest English translation is “to get wasted” from drinking too much alcohol.

DIRECTED BY JOSE JAVIER REYES a.k.a. Joey Reyes
WRITTEN BY MARK GERARD FOLIENTE, who, at nineteen(19), currently holds the title to the youngest Filipino screenwriter for a full-length mainstream film feature
A nineteen-year-old young man wrote the script for this movie and boy, we are impressed.

People from our generation are the parents of the millennials and more often than not, millennials get judged like being "entitled" or people who do not know better than us. Incidentally, two friends of the family play the fathers of two of our main characters and both of them exceeded our expectations.  Even so, I will try to do my very best to be very objective about this.

🙋🙋🙋

The youngest of the millennials are the ones in Senior High to the first two years of college and represented in this movie are the college students.

WalWal is narrated by Bobby, played by Donny Pangilinan.  It is about his life, his best friends,  and the people involved in their lives, which include their respective families and love interests.  Bobby is probably the richest among the four of them.  He is the son of a french fries magnate and his father, played by Rolando Inocencio, wants him to take over the business one day.  Bobby has his heart in filmmaking and is really quite good at it.  In one of his classes he meets perky and self-proclaimed weird girl, Ruby played by Kisses Delavin.  Ruby is very intelligent and like Bobby, she is a movie buff.  Kisses is very, very impressive in this movie and I'm glad she was the one paired with Donny in this film.

THE REST OF THE TROOP

Every character has a back story.  Intoy(Jerome Ponce) for instance, is not exactly poor, but he's not rich either.  Compared to his three best buddies of six years, he is financially challenged.  He is a great volleyball player, so he earned a sports scholarship, but he doesn't have the brains to keep that scholarship.  He is not dumb, but he just couldn't keep up with the school's standards.  His parents are estranged lovers played by Ricardo Cepeda and Angeli Bayani.  Ricardo plays a rich businessman in Cebu whereas Angeli, who kinda looks like Sarsi Emmanuelle(SE), plays a has-been movie star with the screenname Mirinda something(I'm guessing it's because of the striking resemblance with SE that her alter ego was named as such), that although she was known for bearing her skin rather than her soul, her acting prowess was duly recognised by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino(The Filipino Film Critics), enough to nominate her for an Urian Award for Best Actress.  I am guessing if Intoy wasn't conceived, she would have been one of the biggest stars there is, but... Anyways, she's a good mother who loves her children with all her heart. Compared to Angeli, Ricardo Cepeda has a shorter role, but he  played the part so well, that he even exceeded our expectations.

Elmo Magalona plays Dondi.  His father, who is played by Alex Calleja, wants him to be a lawyer someday, but his heart is in his art.  Dondi is conflicted...add to that, his ex-girlfriend broke up with him to be with Sam who turns out to be Samantha and not Samuel(this seems like a spoiler, but to me it isn't because there's more to it than meets the eye).  Imagine the emotional baggage he is carrying.  It is a wonder he could still laugh and have fun with his friends.  He is just too obsessed with his ex named Carla(Jane De Leon) and wants to get her back in his life quite badly. By the way, we were quite impressed with Alex here because we are so used in seeing him being funny, but he pulled it off...being an angry father, that is.  

Last, but not the least is Marco, played by Kiko Estrada.  Without meaning to, I guess, he kind of reminds me of William Martinez during his heyday.  The way he speaks, acts and almost everything else, he is like a young William Martinez.  Acting is in his genes.  He is Cheska Diaz and Gary Estrada's son.  Both sides of his family are filled with thespians, so it's no surprise that he could act well, even if it does not really follow that if your family...  Anyways, Marco here is a playboy reformed by Katrina(Devon Seron), a wannabe multimillionaire through networking, whom he gets pregnant.  Oh, by the way, Cheska also plays Marco's mother here and she still has it.  She's good.

🎬🎬🎬🎥🎥🎥🎬🎬🎬 
Congratulations to everyone involved in this film, most especially to Jose Javier Reyes who rarely, close to never, disappoints(actually, I don't remember anything that disappointed me, but...), directed this film ingeniously;  Mark Gerard Foliente, who, at nineteen, holds promise for writing this beautifully weaved story of TRUE friendship.  I believe in my heart that he would go places one day; and of course, the four young men and their leading ladies.

All the best to you all!


SOME LINKS: 

'Walwal': A movie millennials can relate to



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