Why do people fall in love so many times? Even those who have been hurt can fall in love again for the umpteenth time. For neuroscientists, this can be explained scientifically; it is the hormones that regulate the scenario. Humans can also fall in love again without having to be hurt first. This happens to those who usually have an affair with other people while their status is still married. This is what happened in the film The Love Affair, a Filipino film produced in 2015 by Star Cinema. This film tells the story of a married couple whose relationship is on the brink of divorce after their husband finds out that his wife is having an affair with his best friend. She then consulted a lawyer who had recently broken up with her boyfriend.
The Love Affair, directed by Nuel C. Naval, is based on a scenario written by Vanessa R. Valdez. This film is emotionally intense because it relies on the characters' body language, Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta, and Bea Alonzo. On the other hand, Indonesian audiences will also feel very closely at what happens in the film because of the same Southeast Asian culture. This family drama is not exaggerated in its dialogue. The director demands the audience's emotions slowly through the decision to determine who is right and wrong.
Both Tricia (Dawn Zulueta) and Vince (Richard Gomez) both made mistakes. However, Vince, who has not forgiven his wife's sins, is trapped in the sense of comfort with Adrianne (Bea Alonzo). She is also experiencing heartbreak because she finds out that her future husband is having an affair with a top Filipino artist. According to the Mojo Box office, the film grossed ₱ 170 million domestically, after four weeks of screenings in theatres and was ranked second in the Philippine cinema with the highest income (₱ 300 million) recorded 2015, after Crazy Beautiful You.
Second, Philippine cinema is indeed on its path to success in Southeast Asia and worldwide. A few weeks ago, a Filipino action film, Maria, was bought out of the broadcast by streaming giant Netflix. Filipino films are no longer underestimated in the world. They are in the process of fixing all existing deficiencies. The Philippines previously had the same problem as Indonesia. They find it difficult to compete with Hollywood blockbuster films in Indonesian theatres. Extreme classification even occurs for Indonesian film production, the term indie film appears for local Filipino films, and the second is Hollywood films. In addition, the study of cinema in the Philippines only includes technical matters, productions, and stories. Nobody discussed film distribution, economic potential, and the competitiveness of local films with Hollywood (Michael Kho Lim: 2019).
Filipino independent filmmakers have emerged in the last fourteen years and have produced more than a hundred films from various independent film festivals. Film festivals assisted the production of these films and then opened the pathway to reach a more comprehensive film exhibition power. Now, academics and film industry players in the Philippines are both doing real work to market Philippine films widely and centrally possibly. In the association of cinema in Southeast Asia, Indonesian audiences are still a little unfamiliar with Philippine cinema. We are closer to films from Malaysia and Thailand. Film distribution and exhibition may have an effect on this. Filipino films are not screened in Indonesian cinemas, and only a few film festivals in Indonesia screen films from the Philippines.
In the past, independent cinema in the Philippines was born as a resistance against the socio-political situation, where films became a medium for social change and political reform. Martial law that was declared in the Philippines in 1972 crucially changed the fabric of the film industry in the Philippines. Philippine cinema has had to fall back after experiencing its first Golden Age era. However, after that, they rose again. This era was later marked by the "Rise of Filipino Avant-Garde" (Deo-Campo: 1985). At that time, many Filipino filmmakers began to transform themselves into the commercial film industry. Even so, there are still some filmmakers who insist on working on films with personal themes for specific audiences. For example, the first film Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare), by Kidlat Tahimik (the father of Filipino cinema), won the Prix de la Critique at the 1977 Berlin International Film Festival. You can watch The Love Affair on Netflix.