 Press Release Everybody wants to be happy. Whether it means achieving their childhood dream, finding true love, maintaining a marriage or simply keeping the family together, happiness means so much more to people than just living a rich life. And for some, it’s crazy how far they would go to have happiness. Though sometimes all it takes is a little understanding and acceptance. Passing the family values in most Filipino families is considered to be a way of life; a cultural tradition kept to save the wistful memoirs of what went before. This form of nostalgia saves the present generation from losing track. And perhaps an integral part of cultivating this custom is keeping family ties. In the case of Seiko Films’ “I Wanna Be Happy”, chunks of charming dysfunctional circumstances and spinning dilemmas dot a seemingly typical family highlighted essentially by Gloria Romero’s decision of leaving her husband Eddie Garcia after almost 50 years of marriage. Her reason: I wanna be happy! Beneath the comedic portrayal of the cast lies the seriousness of the issue. The film opens ironically with a mother telling a happy-ever-after story to her daughter. The scene aptly summarizes the substance distributed throughout the film: there is always a happy ending for all of us. Family affair is a major component of the film but not necessarily its intentional subject. Director Jose Javier Reyes is concerned with commitment in all its glorious stages. Gloria has finally decided to come to terms with what she wants, leaving her husband Eddie and eventually living with her closest friend Mely. All this farce occurring with only two weeks remaining before the much anticipated golden wedding anniversary celebration. Expectedly, their sons and daughters played by Joey Marquez as the bossy and single-minded elder brother, Cherry Pie Picache as the resilient yet secretly self-conscious middle child, and Diana Zubiri as the feisty youngest daughter weave themselves into their mother’s web, convincing her to work it out with their father. But at the same time, the three siblings each trod their way into realms of separation, infidelity, and commitment issues. A dentist by profession, Joey hasn’t the nerve to enter into another relationship after his divorce, leaving him into a state of self-doubt. His two sons (Jason Abalos and Dion Ignacio), products of the ruined union, takes most of his responsibility. Meanwhile Cherry Pie is constantly under fire from her deceitful husband and rambunctious children whereas Diana is relentless in her relationship with live-in partner Alfred Vargas. The film surprisingly doesn’t colonize into the usual kiss-and-make-up territory all too soon as it is brimming with quirky plot shifts, enhanced memorably by select characters from a gay colleague (Rodel Velayo) to an old but still young at heart friend (Lou Veloso) to a provincial bar girl (Keanna Reeves). The comforting aspect of the film is the fact that everyone is there for each other. The three siblings trying to fix their parents’ predicament; the older sister counseling her younger sister; the brother advising his sons. All is full of love and concern towards a special someone’s welfare. Reyes’ script delivers outright humor at the right time. The shifting scenes provide rapid amusing moments particularly when Diana’s dinner date with friends moves back to Cherry Pie in front of a prayer meeting imparting her interesting story to devout followers. But once the last scenes start rolling in, we are plunged in an emotional rollercoaster where every family member has finally realized the importance of, well, working it out with your family. And in the end, all it took to fix the family predicament was an innocent child’s voice. Quite simple and heartwarming, really.
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