GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
'Black Lipstick' is a promising introduction to Kyline Alcantara as movie star
"Black Lipstick" is Kapuso actress Kyline Alcantara's first movie role, so there is a lot of expectations riding on it. Does Kyline, one of the GMA's top young stars, have what it takes to become a movie star?
Watching "Black Lipstick," you can say that she does. The film is a promising introduction to Kyline's potential as an actress. She is easily one of showbiz's prettiest faces today, and it shows on the big screen.
When she is onscreen, the movie lights up and you wonder why you haven't seen her elsewhere or why you haven't seen more of her before.
It's strange to compliment Kyline's looks on a movie like "Black Lipstick," which is basically a retelling of the iconic '80s film "Blusang Itim."
In case you didn't know: "Blusang Itim" is about a kind-hearted girl with distorted facial features, played by Snooky Serna, who turns into a beautiful woman whenever she wears the titular blouse.
"Blusang Itim" is regarded as one of the biggest movies of the 1980's, a parable on how inner beauty is more important than outer beauty.
But it's also a story of wish fulfillment; as an audience, "Blusang Itim" makes you feel like some who looks like a matinee idol can fall in love with you regardless of what you look like. Well, as long as you find a magical blouse, which is how we know this is fiction.
That basic premise remains in "Black Lipstick." Here, Kyline plays Ikay, a girl with a skin condition called vitiligo, who transferred to some exclusive rich person school. We know it is supposed to be a rich person school because most of the kids speak like characters from "Mean Girls" or, sometimes, drag queens from "RuPaul’s Drag Queen." Okurrr?
Ikay is smart, the movie tells us, and that becomes relevant for just one scene in the story. Their English teacher announces to the whole class that Ikay is a scholar and makes her read the "award-winning essay" that won her the scholarship.
"Perfection comes at the price of conformity," Ikay's essay reads. "Is it worth it?" "Black Lipstick" literally tells you its thesis statement, less than 15 minutes into the film.
Ikay is bullied because of her vitiligo. The school’s queen bee Chelsea (played by Chesca Salcedo) calls her “Spotty” due to her skin’s uneven color.
The kids in this movie are depicted as social media crazy. When characters are introduced, a chargen text with their names and social media handles appear on screen. The bullies make fun of Ikay online and turns her into a meme.
Ikay handles the bullying pretty well and is even self-aware about it.
“Hindi pwede yung batik-batik katulad ko dito,” Ikay tells her best friend Emil (played by Migo Adacer).
“Ayan ka na naman e,” Emil tells Ikay. “‘Di ba sabi ko sa ‘yo, h’wag mo gagamiting ‘yang salita na yan?”
Emil is clearly in love with Ikay but this is a young adult movie with a two-hour run time so it’ll take a while before she figures that one out. Migo doesn’t do a lot in the movie but, like Kyline, the young actor oozes with charm and screen presence.
What bothers Ikay mostly is her mother Luisa (played by Snooky Serna, maybe so you won’t forget this is a "Blusang Itim" retelling). She takes Ikay to a doctor to treat her condition.
My daughter can’t be like this forever, Luisa says, even though a quick Google search should reveal vitiligo is a life-long condition where the skin loses its pigments resulting in discoloration. There is with no known medically licensed cure.
Anyway, because Ikay is a teenager and is clearly looking for love and acceptance, she tries an online dating app called Tinderella. She uses a fake name and a black-and-white filter on her profile photo to hide her vitiligo. Ikay gets a match and sets a date with him.
Isn’t that catfishing, Emil asks before Ikay goes to meet his Tinderella date. Naturally, Ikay’s date is not pleased when he saw her in person. “Sana in-edit mo lang itsura mo sa totoong buhay,” he tells Isay and walks away. Heartbroken, Ikay confides to Chloe (Kate Valdez), who tells her, “You’re beautiful!”
As a viewer, you’re happy because finally someone mentions it. Ikay is pretty! But then, pointing to Ikay's Ikay’s heart, she continues “Inside.”
She eventually gets the magic black lipstick that removes her vitiligo whenever she uses it. Wouldn’t a black lipstick restrict her fashion choices, I ask myself, until it was explained that its color changes according to the wearer’s mood. That’s still a cool lipstick, I guess, even if you remove the magical transformation function.
So without her skin condition, Ikay goes on a selfie binge. She becomes a makeup vlogger named Jessie, and later an influencer. Her videos become viral in Ikay’s school.
The movie, then, tells the story of Ikay realizing that perfection comes at the price of conformity, and it’s probably not worth it. That’s not a spoiler; they literally said that outright 15 minutes into the film.
You don’t need a magical lipstick to be happy and to feel beautiful — no matter what other people are telling you! It’s a good message. If anything else, "Black Lipstick" is worthwhile thanks to Kyline and Migo.
Their presence in the movie is electric and I wish there were more of them together in it — with or without the magical lipstick. — LA, GMA News
