Cinemalaya 2019: 'Malamaya' -- A Portrait of a Solitary Woman

Photo Credit: Cinemalaya

Director: Danica Sta. Lucia, Leilani Chavez
Starring: Sunshine Cruz, Enzo Pineda

Cinemalaya has been a way for artists, new and old, to challenge their craft and showcase their prowess so it's always a delight whenever they appear in one of the entries. Whether it's a passion project or a career revival, they're exciting to me. This year, Sunshine Cruz is one of the veteran actresses from the mainstream industry to embark in Cinemalaya. Unfortunately, she joins the like of Sharon Cuneta and Gretchen Barretto whose entries don't spark joy.

Malamaya is about Nora, a middle-aged single visual artist who doesn't seem to know what she wants in life. She lives in a house filled with her Obras, and she refuses to sell them for money. She engages in casual sex with a man her age, no strings attached. She attends her friend's art classes to give students a talk about art. And then she meets Migs, played seductively by Enzo Pineda, a young and amateur photographer whose views in art and life are opposite from hers. Their only bonding revolves around sex and cigarettes.

On its canvas, this seems like another film about female empowerment and while there's a case for it, it's barely believable. Malamaya, with its screenplay that sounds like its words are copied straight from an erotic pocketbook, does not give its characters an ounce of likability. The central relationship is toxic and only formed out of lust and sadness. So watching them go bond and fight back and forth is quite tiring which seems to be intentional, but not rewarding for the audience.

Its sensual quality also feels contrived, that it looks like a vanity project for both Cruz and Pineda. There's no way they'd be able to elevate a script that doesn't seem to give their characters a room for redemption. Migs is an immature millennial who doesn't know how to deal with a pessimistic older woman like Nora. Nora, on the other hand, is too passive-aggressive that there's no way to neutralize their exhausting relationship.

Then they also infused it with artistic views, that don't necessarily make a lot of sense to the story, but rather feels like a filler or distraction to convey what they're trying to say about the subject matter. I couldn't even take Nora seriously when she speaks to a class right in front of a projector.

In the end, it's predictably about Nora putting herself first, eliminating all the toxicity in her life--something she could have done after her supposedly one-night stand with Migs--a no-brainer decision if you ask me. Then again, this is art. And we can't like everything.