“Feelings can be complex…” Screenwriter Raquel Villavicencio told the audience of the Q and A session during the premiere of the film, Elehiya at Gateway Cineplex last November 18, 2022.
This was how we felt when the critically acclaimed actress Cherie Gil left us. Our feelings were complex, we had a hard time accepting her departure. The nation was full of grief as we learned that the nation’s primera kontrabida can no longer be on screen.
Talking about grief and loss, this is what Celine de Miranda, Cherie Gil’s character in the film’s primary emotion. She was the estranged wife and widow of a doctor named Rafael “Paeng” de Miranda. All the way from the United States, she went to Manila to visit the wake. Shortly after the wake, she went back to their family resthouse or what they called, “Mirador.” Despite her hatred to that place, she came back to fulfill his estranged husband’s death wish— to have his ashes scattered all around the island.
On the ninth day of Paeng’s death, everything will begin to go downhill. As Celine tries to scatter Paeng’s ashes— there are more than ashes that will come out of his urn. Her hatred for the Mirador will be justified, An infertile woman will walk with the mothers on the parade of the Virgin of the Milk, and she will find herself loving a man with an image of her husband.
Starring Cherie Gil, Miguel Faustmann, and Ross Pesigan, catch Director Loy Arcenas’ Asian New Wave entry, “Elehiya” at the QCinema 2022: In10city Film Festival.
Elehiya can be still watched on the following dates at the following cinemas:
Saturday, November 19, 2022, at 8:50 PM at Gateway Cineplex
Monday, November 21, 2022, at 3:30 PM at Power Plant Cinema
Wednesday, November 23, 2022, at 6:40 PM at Trinoma Cinema
So what are you waiting for? Hurry, and watch Elehiya on the big screen to find out what Paeng’s urn comes with!
