REVIEW: A Secret Affair

Title: A Secret Affair

Director: Nuel Crisostomo Naval

Producer: Viva Films

Distribution: Viva Films

Date of premiere: October 24, 2012

[NOTE: This review has spoilers. I also spoil the ending. Be warned.]

Nuel Naval's A Secret Affair is an affair movie done right. It is definitely better than Ruel Bayani's wildly successful No Other Woman, which is not as flawless as how the box office thinks it is.

In A Secret Affair, Anne Curtis plays Rafi, a young woman who has been dating Anton, a chef, for only two months. While watching a concert, Anton takes Rafi onstage to propose marriage. She says yes, but only because the moment calls for it.

Unsurprisingly, Rafi gets cold feet the night before the wedding. She rushes to Anton's condo unit and breaks off the engagement. This devastates Anton, but Rafi still leaves to go on vacation.

When carefree brat Sam (Andi Eigenmann) learns of the failed relationship, she tries to move in to snare Anton, with whom she has had a one night stand months ago. The depressed Anton gives in, until Rafi comes back to his life. Sam, however, does not like this development, and so she plots to finally destroy Anton and Rafi's connection.

What differentiates A Secret Affair from No Other Woman is how they treat the illicit relationships. 

For me, No Other Woman's  greatest fault is that it celebrates the illicit affair by placing its sex scenes in romantic places, and setting them to erotic music. This complicates the story, as both the legal and illegal relationships are legitimized, thus establishing that there's nothing wrong with the adultery. The guy could have gone to any woman, conflict be damned.

The way Naval handles it in A Secret Affair is vastly different. While Anton's love scenes with Rafi are slow and sensual, his love scenes with Sam are quick and violent. At one point, Anton even pushes Sam onto a glass table. This stark contrast is important, as it gives more emotional weight to the characters' relationships with each other.

The story also has surprising depth. In No Other Woman, the lead male is only a knucklehead who starts a bad relationship just for no reason. In A Secret Affair, the affair is more complicated--Anton only goes with Sam when he's technically single, and so he is shown to be virtually loyal to his fiancee.

There's also no chance meetings, and no abrupt events that change the plot. Compare the two movies' endings: the catalyst for the resolution in No Other Woman is a car crash that comes from out of left field. In A Secret Affair, Sam drives to where her friends are just in time to witness Anton and Rafi finally break up.

I am actually pleasantly surprised that A Secret Affair chose to end with the most logical ending. No one ends up with each other, and they all go their separate ways.

Storytelling is not the only positive aspect of A Secret Affair. I liked how Naval composed every frame, and I saw many interesting shots. One of my favorites is the one where Anton and Sam meet for the first time. Sam sits in the background, while Anton pours a drink in the foreground. Anton places the glass in front of Sam's image, and he slowly fills it with alcohol.

The lead stars should also get accolades for their performances. Derek Ramsey looks smart and sensitive. Anne Curtis acts with her eyes, and her little gestures (fidgeting with her hands, little tics of the mouth) help a lot. Andi Eigenmann is naive and sexual at the same time, and so she nails the role so hard, no pun intended.

But my favorite scenes come from Jaclyn Jose, who plays Anne's mother. The movie's best moment comes towards the movie's end, when she finally confronts her husband's other woman.

I also liked the interchangeable women friends who need to be panned to quickly when they need to speak. They're hilarious.

Only a few flaws mar the film's perfect score: its social media segments feel unfit to the movie's tone, and several cameo actors could be done away with. Nina's cameo, for instance, is presented like she's the movie's star, and we're only watching her concert. (Nina sings the theme song.)

All in all, A Secret Affair is miles better than No Other Woman. Some of you may be double-thinking trooping to the theater for it because it does not have the "Star Cinema" tag, but who says only the Kapamilya film production outfit can make good movies?

Besides, will you let the middling This Guy's In Love With U Mare! to take the top box office spot for 2012? Better movies need to take that cake, right?

RATING: 4.9 stars out of 5

SUMMARY: See this movie.