Capturing the gray shades of a ‘boy’ meets ‘girl’ kind of a thing, director Irene Emma Villamor evidently established the complexity of a not-so-romantic relationship of this generation. The movie Sid & Aya, though its subhead says not a love story, depicts exactly the ambiguity of that thing called ‘LOVE’.
When the disturbed, meanly avaricious, dapper insomniac Sid met the spritely positive Aya in one of those humdrum nights where he normally hangs out to read, the instant connection between the two opposing characters built up unexpectedly in a sense that one needs money whilst the other desperately seeks for a ‘person’ to talk to (merely to past time until he falls asleep).
The opposing stature and the attraction of the lead actors made them closer to the point that they become drawn to that unspoken feeling. Direct Irene Villamor, cleverly used the art of montage and rom-com trope in this film to bring about the flash of ‘kilig’ moments, fun and witty bickering scenes in this otherwise heavy, somber, ‘hot & cold’ movie, and to a conclusion as to what it might turn.
Shot in a buzzing metropolitan in the Philippines and Japan, the fluidity of their encounters illustrates a normal scenario in one’s life. And how the convolution of a person’s daily struggle in work, family, health, social and love life unfold in a way that is pretty much relatable to many.
Surprisingly, the chemistry of Dingdong Dantes, who plays Sid, and Anne Curtis, who portrays as Aya, is just right. They seem so natural acquiring the characteristics of the roles they are playing. The artistic cinematography and soul-baring soundtrack adds to the simple and yet complex emotions of two persons intertwined with tacit bonding.
For what it may seem like a film played in an art house, the movie Sid & Aya is a fresh breathe of a different feel good movie. This is a movie you might not want to miss. Intriguingly entertaining.
Sid and Aya will start screening on UAE cinemas on June 7.
