Changing Partners, the most-awarded film at the 2017 Cinema One Originals Awards is now showing in theaters across the U.S. and Canada.
The film is based on the Palanca Award-winning musical play by Vincent De Jesus. The stage-to-screen opus, starring Agot Isidro, Jojit Lorenzo, Sandino Martin, and Anna Luna, won several of the major awards, including Best Director for Dan Villegas, Best Actress for Isidro, Best Actor for Lorenzo, and Best Ensemble Acting for Isidro, Lorenzo and co-actors Martin and Luna, among other awards.
At the recent Philippine Movie Press Club Star Awards for Movies, Changing Partners received the Indie Movie of the Year Award, Indie Movie Director of the Year (Villegas), Indie Movie Musical Scorer for the Year (De Jesus), Indie Movie Editor of the Year (Marya Ignacio), and Indie Movie Screenwriter of the Year (Lilit Reyes and De Jesus).
Changing Partners begins with Alex and Cris as a live-in couple. They are clearly in love with each other and choose to ignore what people say about their relationship, despite their 15-year age gap.
However, six years into the relationship, their differences become more evident and we see the relationship painfully falling apart because of issues that have festered through the years.
The love story, shown through the perspective of different genders, paints a true picture of how real-life relationships are. Parallel lives and loves prove through music and dialogue that love knows no gender when it pains or soothes, when it hurts or heals.
Hollywood film critic Manny the Movie Guy applauds how the film can depict the stories of four couples in a fair manner. Manny shares how “You’ll see four couples with the same story and the gender reversals explode into a searing examination of relationships. Each of the four variations is treated with equal attention by scriptwriters De Jesus and Lilit Reyes. The gay couple morphs into the straight couple, then to the lesbian partners. Back and forth the film goes, yet the narrative does not lose momentum, and the transition is seamless.”
Manny further adds that he loves “the film’s willingness to defy cinematic expectations. The technical qualities are topnotch, with a story that’s not necessarily new, but made fresh by its own innovation. The final act will hit you like a shot through the heart.”
Changing Partners is currently screening in theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Go to www.tfc-usa.com/changingpartners/ or to www.tfc-ca.com/changingpartners/ for more information.
