‘Ang Larawan’ gives MMFF a different musical treat

If you’ve ever watched a concert on TV and thought, ‘man, I’d love to see this live’, you'd get what watching “Ang Larawan” it feels like.

It’s not the usual musical, that’s for sure; nothing like, say “Les Miserable”.

“Ang Larawan”, adapted from the 1997 stage translation of Nick Joaquin’s “Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino”, might take a little getting used to – especially because the talent displayed in the movie feels bigger than the screen.

A short summary: Sisters Paula (Rachel Alejandro) and Candida (Joanna Ampil) are struggling after their father, painter Don Lorenzo Marasigan, falls into what looks like depression and fails to create art.

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There are a lot of people looking to buy their possessions, like their boarder Tony Javier, who wants to sell their father’s last big painting, and their older siblings, Manolo (Nonie Buencamino) and Pepang (Menchu Lauchengco) want to sell their huge home for their own profit.

But Paula and Candida are quite the strong-willed and resourceful women, and this is where the movie’s story revolves around.

Adding some pizazz to the otherwise straight-laced story are the curious characters like Susan (Cris Villonco), Violet (Aicelle Santos), Don Perico (Robert Arevalo), Donya Loleng (Celeste Legaspi), and Elsa Montes (Zsa Zsa Padilla).

Upon seeing the trailer, I expected a lot of glamour and the jazz of the rolling '30s but the music offered here by Maestro Ryan Cayabyab is nowhere near the expected pop fare — though there is a riveting jazz number and an accessible pop performance in the movie. Dialogue is interspersed with song and more often than not, gives the impression that something is about to burst.

The caliber of the vocals, especially Joanna’s and Rachel’s, are off the charts. It's easy to think there was something iffy — if annoying, as in Cris Villonco’s Susan — with the movie. But it really might just be the scale. The talent and the music in "Ang Larawan" is huge, often the screen feels a little too small for that. 

But if only for the talent, you must watch this movie.

But of course there are more reasons to see “Ang Larawan”: there’s the scene between Paola and Tony, which is so gripping thanks to the undeniable chemistry between the two, that scene where Paola and Candida go on a panic, the cute cameos during the La Naval procession, and the big reveal of Don Lorenzo Marasigan.

Photo: Ang Larawan

I can go on and on but manage your expectations. In the middle of the movie, you'd be wishing you were seeing "Ang Larawan" in another medium, perhaps live on stage. That's how good the production of "Ang Larawan" and the talent displayed in the movie are. It makes audiences want to go nearer the material. — LA, GMA News