BUHAY MO, BUHAY KO... A Missed Chance

Buhay Mo, Buhay Ko

Manuel Cinco develops the basic theme of the love triangle in Buhay Mo, Buhay Ko (Jowell Films Production). The story's ménage à trois shows Melissa (Elizabeth Oropesa), in her attempt to commiserate with Tony (Eddie Garcia), has sex with him. The man loves his wife. The wife Charito (Pilar Pilapil), is very beautiful but incapable of making love. Added to the triteness of the plot are the usual exaggerations believed to be irresistible to viewers. Melissa is the martyr type who would subject herself to indignities just so her coming child can have a name and possibly better upbringing. I'm not saying that a character like Melissa does not or cannot exist. But to have a situation where an improbable character meets up with other improbable characters like Tony and Charito, is stacking up the cards too much on the side of atrocious melodrama. Now, if any these characters may exist, if by a long chance. But to have them all together living under the same roof is stretching the bounds of possibility much too much. A similar problem plagues the direction. The movie's first part is promising. There is an earthy realism about it which contrasts sharply with the stiltedness of some of the later scenes.

What is good about Buhay Mo is, as expected, Oropesa's acting. Her portrayal of the phlegmatic probinsiyana transformed into an aggressive young woman is effectively shaded. Oropesa is an expert in combining confusion, pain, lust and love in one facial expression. She holds the film together, in fact, it may be said that the film exists for her sake. Garcia as the weak, vacillating husband is so good he can, by merely varying his inflection go through a simple line three times and prove positively sensitive and believable each time. Pilar Pilapil is likewise convincing as the decisive wife. Pilapil has some very fine scenes, her reaction to the discovery of her husband's infidelity and the confrontation scene where she guiltily inches her way to Tony after a fight with him are most remarkable. Marissa Delgado (Liza) and Dencio Padilla (Dandoy) are equally good but it is Daria Ramirez who wins us over by applying a different tack in the role of Sandra, Melissa's best friend that is usually played to the hilt and other such effects by less gifted, or less imaginative performers. The restrained performance of the cast, however is overwhelmed by Ernani Cuenco's pervasive musical score. In contrast to the film's bridled dramatics, Cuenco's omnipresent score is awash with a runaway exuberance, proving to be more than anything else, intrusive and annoying. Cinco's scenario unravels tediously, abusing further an already abused plot. His dialogue eventually degenerates into pure soap opera. Furthermore, there could have been a good open ending with overtones of irony laying themselves squarely on Melissa but no. So the story goes on through further typical maneuverings until we're given at least, a semblance of a happy ending. A missed chance, I say.

Screenplay And Direction: Manuel Cinco
Cinematography: Edmund Cupcupin
Musical Director: Ernani Cuenco
Film Editor: Augusto Salvador
Setting Director: Ben Gozo
Produced By: Jowell Films Production
Release Date: January 29, 1976
Buhay Mo, Buhay Ko theme song performed by Celeste Legaspi