A Review of "Kasal", Bea Alonzo Film.

Bea Alonzo, is well known, for her upright, smart femininity and woman power in most of her movies. This movie, Kasal, however turned heads in a new light. People at often times, take steps, into marriages, bluntly calling it out, sorry, without thinking where the road could possibly lead to, as this story hints at, because they feel they have no other better choices sometimes. This film, Kasal, takes a further look into why, we should examine one's self before, we partake in someone else's journey, in this everyday scenario of life at hit with us.

Bea Alonzo, plays a distraught girl, Lia, caught in two relationships, at consecutive times, to substitute what is missing in her family and in her past. In, this film, she has a conflict, with her troubled father, who so happens to be interested in the aspiration of living as a woman daily, instead of what he got from his birth parents. We can see, here, how Lia would feel, with someone fighting inner conflicts daily around you as you grow up and then leaving the family all together, yet to only return a decade later when the mother allows him to see his daughter. Of course, Lia does not know that her dad, never stopped thinking of or being concerned for her, and so as assumed, started to resent him. Her thoughts were that of his abandonement. The first time her father was able to see her, was in a grocery store after a significant time, of "never returning" in her life to her knowledge.

As the film continues, Bea's character, Lia, is already in preparation for a wedding with her boyfriend, Philip, Actor Paulo Avelino. These two, so happen to have it all, for except the gnawing and nagging requests of Philip's parents who are in line for campaigning of mayor, and expecting of Philip to be the candidate. Lia, is not the only one with troubles growing up, but also, Philip. In the film, his parents fail to give their children recognition when needed and the appraisal and support they deserve. One child, was lost to the family, and at one point in the film, we can sympathize with the parents, as Philip lashes them out on how he felt all along becoming an adult under their household. The mother points out, in the midst of conflict to the verbally abusive father, "We already lost one. We do not want to lose another."

As plainly, and as most lives are filled with conflicts, it is clear why Philip and Lia fall in love. Philip is someone who instills his all and gives his very best in everything, even in a girl, and when he sees Lia, he gives her his everything, winning her with a sincere and deserving love, she always longed for as a child. Lia, not to mention, is an eye-catcher, as well, wearing a two-piece bikini, very well, at the very beginning of their encounter in their high school reunion party, and has a gentle, altruistic nature, and heart-warming, friendly face with every crossed person, whether liked or hesitant to approach.

The film goes on to be proving of a certain fact, that Lia, is however moving too fast into her relationships as a young adult, and even in this dream relationship with Philip. From her first long-term boyfriend, someone who cheated on her, Wado (Derek Ramsay), and made another child in the process, he became an engineer still stubborn and hard-headed at the hopes of winning Lia back, just because he is jealous at the couples' happiness and seeing Lia with another man. A childlike and all-time grown man with a mind of a 14 year old, in other words, total assh*le, comes into the picture when Philip's assistant sways him to help them in their campaign of building a bridge to save their family's corrupt reputation, and all in all, save the election as a winning game. Wado, cannot handle, the pressure, however, and tries to find a way to snoop Philip out or distract Lia's starstruck eyes from him. The film ends with Wado figuring out Philip is a bisexual, without Philip filling Lia in on the total truth of his past relations or true standings in his sexual preferences. Wado, however, does, and the scene is a mess, as Lia, can not imagine how Philip could not tell her the truth considering the hardships she had to deal with growing up as a troubled girl raising her mother and herself on her own, because of what her father did to her.

Consequently, the wedding is called off, as well as the campaign, and Lia goes home and reconnects with her father, to only find, that he never stopped caring, and never chose himself over her without considering her best interest, in the first. Then Lia, decides, after a heart to heart talk with her dad, to do something for herself. She decides to work on finding more out about herself, who she truly is, what she deserves and filling in the missing love with time and space. She wants to learn how to hold up and fill that empty space, that she always tried to fill with someone else, instead with her own inner search of self assurances and acceptance. She assures Philip in the process, that one day, but not now, they may have a chance at each other. And he proclaims that he will wait. Quote, Lia mentions she needs to get to the point, where she is ready and more than sure, without any doubts, and knows him better.

Is this film a taker? It is a big, if seen, or looked at deeper, hidden message to teenage girls or even young adult woman, to not rush into relationships or rush into maybe, any big decisions too quickly and not to trust too much, even if we are happy, with all that we see. It teaches about, inner acceptance, to one's self, considering the feminine father, and the troubled parents of Philip, and also acceptance not just to yourself but of situations we don't like or hardships, like Wado, having to accept his mistake and move on from Lia, and the wild ex of Philip, played by Kylie Verzosa, having to accept that Philip doesn't love her, and also Lia having to accept the fact that her father, left and has a burden with his sexual identity.

Acceptance is hard these days. Lia had to accept the fact that she wasn't ready for Philip yet, but in the midst of it, when you do accept, you are found in a new light of better self-worth and everything else will seem to follow after that. There is a charming factor to self-acceptance and self-worth. You feel as if you were carried out from a prison or jail cell after a suffocating trial. And don't think you are alone, when you have to give something up in whatever process you have to take to get where you need to be, because almost all the time it feels like that. We all have to give something up that is near to our heart at some point or seemed such a part of our nature or maybe feels like such a comfort place, at times. But those "escapes" from those comfort zones, push us to a place where we actually feel 500 times better than expected, always.

Things don't just always go as foreseen. And that is what we have to instill in our heads sometimes. Maybe Lia figured out all of that.

Sources for Images:

INSIDESHOWBIZ.PHteam. InsideShowBiz. EXCLUSIVE: Paulo Avelino and Derek Ramsay On Working With Bea Alonzo on Kasal. May 23, 2018. web. 18 June, 2018.