Social media have completely exploded in ASEAN countries, with the Philippines and Indonesia seemingly leading the surge. As such, it is by no surprise that a number of movies from these countries lately focus, with “Where is the Lie?” being one of the latest we have watched. John Rogers presents his own take, which does go towards a rather darker path, however, as it also mixes the concept of mental illness.
“While We Watched” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
Gemma Stone became a social media influencer after a video her ex-boyfriend published on the web, with her in complete breakdown after being fired. Soon after, she became quite famous with her fans following her every video of her everyday life. Currently, however, she is burning out from trying to maintain the interest of her followers, while on a fateful night, her partner in crime ‘breaks up' with her for another acquaintance of hers. During the same night, she meets James, a struggling musician suffering from depression, with the mutual intent to capitalize on the other. Gemma uses James for content by presenting him as a perfect aspirational romantic partner, while James leeches off Gemma's wealth and connections to further his own music career. The success of both is significant, although Gemma seems to feel more comfortable with the particular relationship. Eventually, a crisis hits, and the two are forced to take a look at both their connection and themselves.
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John Rogers directs a movie that seems to pose a number of questions, with the most significant one obviously being whether what we see in social media and the internet has anything to do with reality, with the director actually playing with the concept throughout the movie. Furthermore, the whether a full-on transactional and essentially more practical than directed by feelings relationship could work is also presented throughout the movie, as Rogers shows an aspect of branding that is very rarely commented upon, despite the whispers we all have heard about celebrities relationships through the years.
At the same time, the inclusion of James's psychological issues and the fact that the upper hand in the relationship changes a number of times, add even more context to the story, in a way that retains interest for a large part of its 105 minutes. When Rogers moves away from the aforementioned though, the quality of the film definitely deteriorates, with the music part and particularly some music video-like scenes moving somewhere between the cheesy and the corny, and the comedy, that appears on occasion, being rather pedantic. Lastly, this change of the upper hand and the instances of metastrophe the two exhibit do go a bit too far close to the end, while Gemma's in particular, could have been handled much better.
Where the film thrives, however, is in the chemistry of the two, with both Khalil Ramos as James and Ashley Ortega as Gemma presenting the underlying emotions and circumstances of their character in the best fashion, with the moment they openly clash being the zeniths of their performances, and the whole film in essence.
Che Espiritu's cinematography is too bright on occasion, but in general captures the constantly recording essence of the story nicely, while the fact that a number of frames have been set in order to resemble the view from a phone screen is truly impressive. The way phone screens, social media, and the concept of what is being recorded and what is not is also well implemented in the film, owing much to Noah Tonga's editing, which, additionally, results in a relatively fast pace that works well for the narrative.
John Rogers wanted to present a movie that is both profound in its comment and light as a romantic comedy/drama, but the result did not work greatly for him, also because some of the questions he poses are never actually answered. At the same time, though, if someone wanted to see a light film that also includes some deeper meanings and some food for thought, “As If It's True” would emerge as an ideal watching.
