Could a second chance ever come up if the first was never taken? In "Us Again," that probability haunts former lovers Margie (Jane Oineza), the downcast nurse, and Mike (RK Bagatsing), the self-seeking artist. Their abrupt romance winds back for either closure or continuation.
Atypical as can be, "Us Again" grabs the curriculum of the love-drama and bakes it with intrigue that the watch is unmistakably addictive. When Oineza cries, everything else falters. When Bagatsing yells, all the screen contracts to the chasm of his pangs. The framing by Ian Marasigan, cinematographer, and Joy A. Aquino, director, encapsulates the burning enthrallment of Mike and Margie. In an apartment setting, Margie is on the cusp of the bed as Mike is kneeling below her, both agape at each other. They are positioned in-between the wood rail-dividers of the room, amazingly angled to mean they are prisoners of the choices they have to make for their love to be effective or whatnot.
Depth of field is laid out by Marasigan, in a scene inside a hostel — Margie and Mike are perpendicularly a-sit on the mattress, as the saddened yellow lighting liquefies the loneliness of the two. It is a demonstration of how close they are but their realities are apart, only their emotions glaring the situation. The pain can be felt in the picture as Margie's and Mike's hearts disintegrate like the crunchy whip of paper being ripped. "Us Again" defines the evocativeness of chances taken and forsaken.
To envibe the fissure of decisions and regret, Juvy Galamiton arranges the screenplay into a needle that sews the wounds shut as it scabs into acceptance that Margie will be better off after the undiscernable twist. Such is never foreshadowed because of the dichotomy of the story and the odds unfolding towards one supernatural route. "Us Again" becomes a ghost story — more straightforward than the Bela Padilla-written, Piolo Pascual-Toni Gonzaga starrer "Last Night," and more interactive than the cosmic arthouse movie "A Ghost Story" by David Lowery, led by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara.
"Us Again" is unforgettable as much as it is rewatchable for the essence of Mike being part-betrayal, part-completion of Margie's fate. There may be no second chances at all. Just another day to gamble on the one opportunity that has been given.
Director: Joy A. Aquino
Image and Trailer ©️ Regal Entertainment, Inc.; YouTube.com
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