1987: Invitation (2020)

The reunion with oneself

Captivating and irresistibly beautiful, '1987: Kumbida' is a romantic short film with LGBT themes, directed by Aireen Remoto, who is also in charge of photography and script from a story by KL Rico.
Released in 2020, the film tells the story of Joaquin (Glenn Mhar Balmonte), a closeted, introverted and deaf gay boy, and Isagani, or just Gani (Joseph Manuel Galapon), as his loved ones know him, an openly gay, cheerful young man. and boisterous, who dreams of becoming a well-known journalist. They will both meet at a friends party and in the middle of the long, sweet night that awaits them, the couple of Filipino teenagers make each other discover their true selves through confidences, music and dance.
As the title portrays (kumbida means "to invite"), this moving film shows us what it is like to hide who you are and who you love in the late 1980s.
Always based on the margins of the independent Filipino homosexual film movement, its director gives us a sincere and visceral coming-of-age story.
Finalist of the Gawad Sining Short Film Festival 2020, the film makes a virtue of its scarcity of means and also gives us an emotional and poetic story about the impact that one night can have on our lives. The performances are deep and well done, the young actors give themselves in a way that makes us feel a connection between both characters.
The total dedication of Glenn Mhar Balmonte and Joseph Manuel Galapon to giving life to the protagonist couple ensures that the viewer ends up totally involved with the characters, wishing the best of possible futures for these two young people, whose relationship can lead to love. Both characters become that voice for those people who are still afraid to reveal themselves.
Joaquín and Gani's story conveys their struggles and the circumstances they have to overcome for the simple fact of being part of the LGBTQ+ community. The film aims to break gender stereotypes and will be beneficial not only for members of the LGBT+ community, but for all people. Likewise, the elimination of discrimination is proposed, promoting equal rights for all human beings and the desire for acceptance, at a time of approval of the SOGIEB bill. Carrying out this effort was not prevented by the pandemic caused by Covid-19 or Typhoon Ulysses, which put the lives of all those involved in the filming at risk.
While Isagani (Gani) hangs out with his usual gang of queer friends at the house of one of them, on a typical night, Joaquin arrives at the party. Gani has been wanting to get intimate with the newcomer for some time and, despite both living in a small rural provincial town where all the neighbors know each other, he has not dared to introduce himself properly because he considers it too serious.
His friends, aware of the attraction that arouses in Gani, encourage him to talk to Joaquin and they both enjoy the festival together.
It doesn't take long for the two young men to be talking. Although Joaquin receives Gani coldly, he will soon be infected by the boy's joy and will first begin to smile timidly at him, and then soon find himself involved in a lively conversation, verbal on one's part, and through gestures and sign language, on the other hand. the other.
They will leave on a bicycle, taken at random from a yard on loan, since they did not ask the owner for it, and now pedaling one, now pedaling the other, they will continue their journey of discovery and acceptance.
Unintentionally, the night out will end up turning into an adventure that will result in something completely different than anyone could have foreseen. After hours under the starry sky, bike rides, the sudden rain that comes while they are sitting on the banks of the river, where Gani will take Joaquin to show him his favorite place, where he goes every time he wants to breathe, and to ask for a wish after the passing of a shooting star, the two teenagers will begin to get to know each other better and make all kinds of confidences.
Gani will talk about his dreams of becoming a journalist to report only with the truth, about when he arrives at university in Manila, the first thing he will do is take a bath because the capital's water "has chlorine", about his desire not to disappoint others. his loved ones, especially his parents, the need to be accepted as he is, that nothing changes in the future, especially with his family, that he owes it to his friends to have confidence in himself, the feeling of emptiness inside him "perhaps because he is gay", that he has set out to prove that "although I am different I can achieve my dreams", of his right to decide and choose, of his fears and his insecurities. In silence, Joaquin listens carefully, and as a sign that he agrees with his new friend, he will take one of his hands and bring it to his heart so that he can hear the beats well.
And they will dance under a sky that already shows the approach of dawn, to the beat of "Isang Buong Araw Kasama Ka", performed by Akom Ayalam, and Sayaw NG Buhay, by Nathaniel Cabanero.
Sharp, moving and with memorable performances, despite the youth of its protagonists and the fact that they are not professional actors, which gives greater naturalness and conviction to their performances, the film has several sequences between the actors where an intimacy is built. credible and profound that, together with several sequences of monitoring and observation of Gani's character, are the most valuable moments of the film, in my opinion.
I like how intimacy begins to boil in the heat of Gani's confessions and Joaquin's complicity, two people who face their loneliness from diametrically opposite emotional places: one who has not come out of the closet and the other who trusts that his family will. he accepts, but finally discovers that this is not the case.
'1987: Invitation', by its English title, is a film about a brief encounter that will radically change the lives of two teenagers, made from a disarming humility, set in La Isabela, in the Administrative Region of Cagayan Valley, Philippines,
In a homophobic society, like the Philippines, where there is no type of recognition of same-sex couples in the form of marriage or civil union, therefore, it does not recognize homoparental families either, the film is a small triumph. in a sea of ​​defeats, where calm and honesty take over the narrative to give us hope at the end of the tunnel.
The invitation that its own title suggests is to reunite with oneself. Joaquin rediscovers himself through Gani, and that rediscovery is what allows him to spread his wings and come out of the closet, now free of all social prejudices, cultural ties and internalized homophobia, as some of the reasons that have made it difficult for him to come out of the closet. closet.
Accompanied by brilliant performances and a solid narrative, the film, which does not have a high budget, covers the transformation of the protagonist, a boy who finally accepts his homosexuality and is not afraid to show it to the world, thanks to the arrival into his life of a neighbor. with whom he had never exchanged a word.
The importance of the film lies not so much in its themes and display of diversity, but in its deeper approaches. '1987: Kumbida', is a story full of sincerity and humility, of narrative and formal intimacy that becomes an aesthetic exercise in the search for happiness: a beautiful idyll of the reunion with oneself, and that has the ability to bring to all types of audiences the question: why are we not able to look at the love between two men with "normality"?
The film takes a look at the growing love of two different people who stop their emerging true love for themselves and each other. In this sense, it proposes to debate the dilemma of accusing others of being wrong or lying about who they are, or of trying to accept that, sometimes, what is traditional is not always correct.
'1987: Kumbida' is a mirror for society to look at itself and understand the acceptance of what is different, and to understand that love is not limited by gender or anything else.
In this sense, we are all Gani and Joaquín in our own way, since we always want to be heard, loved and accepted.

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