Family dramas are somewhat of a dangerous territory because they’ve been done a thousand times over.
And if you’re going to re-tell another story and want it to resonate with a larger audience, it has to be in a manner many of us haven’t seen before.
Perci Intalan’s “Distance” managed to do that, to some degree, and it worked. While this is not exactly the tearjerker one would expect, its execution was natural it feels like you’re watching your neighbor.
What I enjoyed about the movie is it’s not forced. Not exactly plot-driven, the characters’ choices propelled the story forward. And they did not have to resort to over the top moments (think Filipinas or Tanging Yaman) to expose and (attempt to) resolve conflicts. There weren’t much confrontations that involved wailing and walling. No dramatic slap-her-in-the-face scenes or outrageous I’m-not-your-mother type scenes.
There was only subdued drama. But an effective one. It’s like white noise. You don’t really pay much attention to it because you’re too busy with what’s in front of you but you know it’s there. And you know that, at some point, something will trigger it and blow it up.
Liza (Iza Calzado), is an estranged wife and mother who returns home after prodding from her husband Anton (Nonie Buencamino). Reluctant and unsure of how her daughters Carla (Therese Malvar) and Therese (Alessandra Malonzo) would react.
Naturally, the daughters have initial qualms about her return. She disrupted their lives by leaving the first time and she disrupts it once again by coming back. As she tries to weasel her way back to their routine, the tension between mother and daughter intensifies. And by continuously ignoring the elephant in the room, the family is forced to address their situation, resulting to one of the most powerful and unique confrontation scenes I’ve seen in family dramas.
It’s important to note that the actors here are of high caliber. Buencamino and Calzado have carried their roles very well and they didn’t have to resort to the teleserye type of acting to evoke intense emotions from the audience. They were subtle, mostly introspective, and yet, they were very effective.
The young Malvar was a revelation. Her breakdown scene is searing. It’s one of the unforgettable scenes in the movie.
“Distance” is a well-crafted family drama. It provides us with some new elements and new interesting ways to tell the story of a family that could easily be yours and mine.
Directed by Perci Intalan
Cast: Iza Calzado, Nonie Buencamino, Therese Malvar, Alessandra Malonzo, Adrianna So, Max Eigenmann
