Gender roles and their appeal to the woke culture are once again thrust into the spotlight with this unconventional love story that breaches the stereotype of the modern man doing macho “man things”. Perci Intalan's latest is a colorful and humorous spectacle, a coming-out party with an unconventional twist that glitters with pure energy.
I Love You, Beksman is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Dali (Christian Bables) is a flamboyant make-up artist with a fabulous hairdo the brightest shade of red, a wardrobe full of loud flowery patterns, and is just a bit soft ‘like a makeup sponge'. But there is one other thing you need to know about Dali: he is not gay, or at least he thinks he's not. After Dali arrives fashionably late for a stint at the Miss Manilla Pageant, he bumps into a pageant hopeful, the gorgeous Angel (Iana Bernardez, following up from her critically acclaimed 2019 debut, “Gusto Kita with All My Hypothalamus”) who takes his breath away and forces Dali to man-up and go against his entire group of family and friends (and gasp…Angel) who are convinced that he is homosexual.
Ridiculously goofy and full of flavor, “I Love You, Beksman” is a candy land of pink pastels, kitschy soundtracks and cutesy makeup and costumes (courtesy of the brilliant aesthetic stylings of Art Director Emilio Medrano and Carmela Danao's production designs) that is unapologetic in delivering its message. You are not a man if you don't make gains at the gym or change car tires at the mechanic shop. Real men don't cry unless they're ‘fags', right?… Well, maybe not anymore.
Check also this interview
As Greta Gerwig's tongue-in-cheek “Barbie” (2023) and the poignant Oscar-Winner “Moonlight” (2016) show, modern audiences are lapping up a world where gender norms are upended and where sexual identity gets increasingly fluid. And Intalan further adds to the zeitgeist, challenging the notion of what it is to be heterosexual even when you don't fit into the traditional mold of men past.
The collective performance of the cast sparkles in this production. Christian Bable slays with the perfect amount of campiness without getting too cringy and is the ideal ‘Anakshie' (fictitious word to mean “child”) to his “Papshikiels” (Like an adoptive parent)- Keempee De Leon's hilarious Jaime- who once again lights up the screen with his endearing portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters. Bringing the drama is Iana Bernandez's household of stooges that force masculinity in its most materialistic “gym-bro” ways onto our poor protagonist resulting in lots of laughs and comedic moments.
But alas, to prove that Dali is straighter than a ruler, screenwriter Fatrick Tabada falls back on some tactless screenplay that has fewer hits than misses. -We don't need to know that Bruno (a friend of Angel's brother) hooks up with gays for 150 pesos- that proceeds to some shockingly one-dimensional situations that prove that the story is not the strong suit of this film.
“I Love You, Beksman”, like a comforting TV dinner, may not be the most substantial option, but it gets the job done. In the continuing conversation about what it means to be a man or woman, Perci Intalan wants us to fly our freak flag high and do what it takes to be our authentic selves no matter what people might say, even if that demands coming out as heterosexual.
