Rustica Carpio as the old nanny Yaya Teresa cries only once. That’s when she finds out that the children she served all her life intend to just leave her to an old folks home instead of taking care of her, but she is not even shown crying on cam. Instead we see her back, with her head leaning on the door. The film is very quiet, deliberately leisurely paced, but the emotions that it portrays are all real.
All the actresses who portrayed Yaya Teresa in the various phases of her life are excellent: Kim Rodriguez as a 17-year old who gives up her love for the family’s driver (Alwyn Uytingco) for the sake of her boss Mercy (Hazel de la Cruz and Kimberly Diaz), her ward Stella (Jackielou Blanco) and her own immediate family who depends on her financially; Ruby Ruiz as the middle aged Teresa, and Rustica as the 77-year old Teresa who’ll definitely in the list of the year’s best actresses come next year’s award-giving derbies.
The ending with Yaya Teresa looking lost inside a cavernous bus station when a boy asks her “Lola, saan kayo pupunta”, is a real heartbreaker. The rest of the cast delivers wonderfully, notably Ryan, Jackielou and Bobby Andrews as the three bickering siblings who all somehow feel bad and guilty about getting rid of their old yaya who has outlived her usefulness, Alwyn as the spurned suitor and Chynna Ortaleza as Bobby’s wife.
Technical credits as definitely way above average and we particularly appreciate Jesse Lucas’ very spare musical score that makes effective use of the violin, whose plaintive music is almost like a lament. Before the screening started, Direk Joey said he’s also dedicating the movie to his 100-year old mother who’s now in the hospital due to some blood infection. Let’s all pray for his mom’s quick and full recovery.
