There is no separating Kasal from its politics. This is because it is a story of people for which a political issue has become a deeply personal one. The movie tells the story of Sherwin and Paolo (Arnold Reyes and Oliver Aquino). The movie kicks off with them in the middle of a fight. Sherwin has just strayed, and Paolo isn’t happy about it. But the movie then jumps to a year ahead, where the two have apparently reconciled. Sherwin’s infidelity hangs over their relationship, but they seem to be committed for now. And then the two head off to Nasugbu to attend the wedding of Sherwin’s younger sister.
Paolo meets Sherwin’s family for the first time, under the pretense of being the videographer for the wedding, because Sherwin isn’t quite ready to be out to his family. The film is built on conflicts like this. The two are really out of sync, with greatly differing views of what life as a gay man should be in this modern world. Sherwin seems to care more about what people think. He is more protective of his image, and he’s more willing to compromise his identity. Paolo, on the other hand, is a bit more of a romantic. It soon becomes clear that Paolo wants to get more out of this relationship than Sherwin is willing to give.
The beauty of this movie lies in the very simple depiction of this relationship. For the most part, when the movie clings to the low-key reality of the main pairing, it ends up speaking pretty eloquently. Because this could really be any couple. There are some things that are specific to Sherwin and Paolo, but their issues go well beyond the politics of their sexuality. The real conflict between them is mainly one of trust, and whatever else they might argue about, it all still goes back to the fact that Sherwin made that mistake a year ago.
But then the film takes longer. It runs the characters through the same arguments over and over, drilling certain ideas to the point where they lose their impact. And there are portions it feels as though the relationship takes a back seat to the messaging. The film is a little hard to take when it is being overtly political. Its sentiments are already pretty agreeable. Its insistence on reiterating these points in overt ways just slows the story down.
The film is actually most powerful when it’s just being quiet. There is enough in the onscreen relationship of Arnold Reyes and Oliver Aquino to convey the same ideas without actually saying them out loud. There is a lived-in quality to their interactions, a certain familiarity that suggests a deep and storied history. The film is most interesting when it leaves the two to their thoughts, the guilt and the longing floating in the air between them.
Kasal puts a little too much load on its shoulders. The film can be quite beautiful, but because of the length, those moments feel a little spread out. It just ends up filling too much of its time with polemic, when it could have just been telling the story of two people who are no longer the couple they thought they were. This movie does a lot of things well, but it still manages to be a bit of a slog.
My Rating:
