The Reel Freak's Pick: DAY BREAK

Daybreak
Starring: Coco Martin, Paolo Rivero
Directed by: Adolf Alix, Jr.



A married man is having an affair with another man. After some time apart, the two men spend a night together in a family vacation home in Taal, Batangas. Together in such close quarters, the two are left with nothing to do but to confront the realities of their relationship.
The movie opens with William (Paolo Rivero), a doctor driving up to Tagaytay City to meet his secret lover JP (Coco Martin), a handsome young fellow with beautiful tanned skin in his mid-twenties. While driving, William was engaged in a cell phone conversation with his wife who was asking when he will return home. William made up an alibi saying that he has an unexpected appointment in Tagaytay and will probably be back in Manila the next day. On the other hand, JP was waiting in a public viewing park of the Taal Volcano to join William in his Tagaytay escapade. JP is a local boatman and tour guide in Taal, Batangas and William’s secret lover for a year now. Although, it was not specifically reiterated in the movie, listening to their dialogue, one will learn that the two men obviously met during one of William and his wife’s visit to Taal Volcano. If William has a wife, JP on the other hand, has a girlfriend. The two did not see each other for two months partly because William is very busy being a Makati physician and partly because he is a family man. While JP had spent two months secretly waiting for William while keeping himself busy with his boating job and his girlfriend. Deep inside, the two lovers missed each other so much. When they reached the rest house, William cooked pasta and they ate and drunk wine together. It was, however the last night that the two lovers will share their love with each other as William is scheduled to leave for Australia. William wants to call it quits but doesn't know how to break the bad news to JP who is already emotionally attached to him albeit they really didn't have an agreement that they are indeed a couple.
The tension starts when William tells JP that he's leaving the country. Several scenes and dialogue lead up to the climax as JP was reluctant to accept the fact that it was the end of their relationship. The two men spent the night talking about their past including happy and unforgettable memories while browsing their pictures. The night has been a beautiful night. Their intimacy renewed and they made love as pleasurable as ever. But as the daybreak comes, William remained firm to his decision, leaving for Australia and ending his relationship with JP. The movie ends as William is driving back to Manila again and JP, alone in the nocturnal Tagaytay rest house and numbed to the truth that their relationship is doomed in just one night.





My Film and Theatre Professor in college once said that the importance of a movie is, above all, the message it disseminates. This movie successfully accomplished this aim. It’s a gay movie, but need not have been gay for the story to work. The writers and the director chose the characters to be gay to reach all genders.

The story is just simple---- ending a relationship. There are only 2 characters. But what is amazing on this film is the delivery of the simple story within the 2 characters--- the 2 men confronting the realities of what their relationship will lead to. This is one of the few gay indie films that didn’t focus on erotic scenes and nudity. It proved that this genre can go beyond that, and can go deeper, bold but respectable, according to a movie critic.

I watched this movie 3 times already, and never grew tired of it. This is one film I intend to spend much of my life spreading the word about, because it deserves much talk and appeciation.