“You think that’s hard? I watched this friggin’ tearjerker movie, that’s hard!”

Just arrived from Joji Matsuoka’s emotionally tiring two-hour twenty-two-minute TOKYO TOWER: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad at Eiga Sai in Shangri-la Plaza. One: I was supposed to strongly relate with Boku such that I  had expected myself to bawl (judging from the trailer). Two: Amid the powerful grip of tear guts, I sufficiently had my heart crushed I couldn’t donate it anymore.

A familial concept for a stern-looking oriental race, the story is based from the Lily Frank‘s novel of an obedient yet wayward son, Boku, and his  flashbacks aka travails of separating himself from his one and only family: His mom. He goes to Tokyo, drinks, gets stoned, delays his college, wastes his mom’s money and evolves to adapt a both hipster lifestyle and fashion statement (Plus points! You go, Glenn Boku!).

In the countryside,  his single-parent mother develops a thyroid cancer, gets cured and has gastric cancer afterward. Boku tries to outdo his juvenile, err, kalokohans and strives to work harder and finally graduates. He then brings his ill mom to Tokyo and spends a year taking care of her. Eventually, after the grueling chemotherapy and overall positive thinking, he is bitch-slapped by fate and his mom dies.

I feel provoked to cry a signature Sue Sylvester quote, “You think that’s hard, I watched this friggin’ tearjerker movie, that’s hard!” It was  sourly painful, that even though I lost track of comparing myself to Boku vis-a-vis Okan when revealed that he is sweet yet rebellious, a writer, illustrator and a disc jockey and therefore realize that I’m not, I was devastated within me. My relationship with my 21st century mother, ugh I know right, wasn’t even close. And I wanted more drama in my life, right. Boku and I just had separated parents, artistic dreams, vulnerable personality and that was JUST it.

Still, I shattered. The (full) movie house was, aside from myself, Alpha, Chui and Chino pointing out the vast, floundering Pinoy icons lookalikes in this 2007 Japanese film ie. Mike Enrique,  Joy Viado, Tirso Cruz III, etc., so engrossed it almost pointed out the minor yet extremely significant ways of life to be thought upon. Like unemployment, and non-graduation which Alpha appalled.

Anyhow, the perspective-changing quote I got was by Okan with “There are things beyond just “Hanging in there.”" Cos really, sometimes, giving up is the only way.

( View the full schedule of EIGA SAI 2010 here. Catch it while you can! )

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PS I was initially crept out at some stranger who messaged me via Facebook saying that he just saw me in Shang. Turns out,  it was Jonell of Paurong.Net! Haha You could’ve said “Hi,” man.