MOVIE REVIEW: Rookie Is the Sapphic Rom-Com We've Been Waiting For

(SPOT.ph) Queer love stories, especially Sapphic narratives, are hard to come by in Philippine cinema. And most of what we have are entangled in a complicated web of women-loving-women struggles: coming out to conservative parents, coming-of-age, falling in love with a "straight" woman, a woman trapped in a beard relationship, conversion therapy, sexual abuse, and so on. While these are real (and, oftentimes, alarming) issues that LGBTQIA+ people deal with every day; sometimes, we just want to enjoy a kilig flick a la-Star Cinema. Enter: Rookie, a full-length finalist at the 2023 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival written by Samantha Lee (Sleep With Me, Billie and Emma) and written by Natts Jadaone.

Synopsis of Samantha Lee's Rookie at Cinemalaya 2023:

Rookie has a pretty straightforward (no pun intended) girl-meets-girl trope. Ace (Pat Tingjuy) moves to an all-girls Catholic school in her junior year. Seeing how tall she is, she gets recruited by Coach Jules (Agot Isidro) to try out for the volleyball team, the San Lorenzo Angels. As a basketball player in her previous school, Ace doesn't know shit about volleyball, earning her the ire of team captain Janna (Aya Fernandez), who's burdened with her father's expectations and her mother's legacy as a student-athlete. After spending a few days in a volleyball camp, they get to know each other and fall in love.

What we think of Rookie:

Rookie advocates for its implied viewers, who are likely lesbian and bisexual women who also went to an exclusive high school. This was evident during the gala screening on August 6, when a number of queer people flocked to the PICC and squealed every time a kilig scene came up. It was a shared experience of a shared high school memory. Who can forget the scene where Aya awkwardly gives Janna a box of Ferrero? The specificity of this chocolate brand can't be any more relatable. We know so many people. (The people is I, I am the people.)

It can be argued that the relationship between Aya and Janna happened too fast. One minute they want to punch each other in the face; and the next minute, they're exchanging sweet glances. But, then again, have you ever been in a w-l-w (women-loving-women) relationship? We don't have the U-haul lesbian stereotype for no reason. That said, Lee breaks out of heteronormativity and proceeds with an authentic portrayal of young queer love. (Admit it, it had the most flawless delivery of the volleyball cliché, “Mine mo na, baka ma-mine ng iba.”)

We did not have this kind of movie growing up, which basically instilled in us that same-sex relationships are "not normal," that basketball is a male-only game (e.g. as expressed in Isidro's line, "Wala kaming basketball dito e. Nakakatomboy daw."), and that women should only wear skimpy shorts and lacy dresses. We still see these in Rookie, but more in a contextual light. We can't ignore the reality of Catholic school policies on gendered uniforms and prom wear or a Catholic priest blatantly calling being in a same-sex relationship a sin, prompting collective boos from the audience.

Away from the judgment of Catholic nuns, there are the many awww-inducing moments shared by Ace and her mother (played by Cheryl Ramos-Cosio). She asks about her daughter's crush in school as if it’s “normal,” gives her daughter a suit for prom, and is proud to support her daughter on the court. There was no grand coming-out scene, which provides a sense of much-needed normalcy in their dynamics.

Technically, however, we can't say that the fleshing-out of characters in Lee's Rookie is perfect. In particular, there's Janna's dad, who—for some reason that wasn’t justified—had a change of heart from being an over-expecting parent to an apologetic one.

Lee and Jadaone also injected an alarming women’s issue in the film: the case of male predators in schools. Much like in the story of Coach Kel (Mikoy Ramos), these things are quietly resolved as school administrators are more conscious of their reputation than their student's experience and closure. This truth was portrayed as raw as possible in the movie. How many times have we heard male teachers, professors, and coaches just being transferred from one school to another without legal cases filed against them or without public statements made by universities condemning their actions?

Rookie is a romantic comedy about young queer love. While it’s not technically the tightest movie, it’s good enough as a “fun-fun lang”—a line from the film—narrative. And my inner child is here for it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Spots

Rookie is part of the 2023 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, which runs until August 13 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City and at Ayala Malls (Trinoma, UP Town Center, Glorietta, and Manila Bay).

Also read:
10 LGBT Documentaries That Keep the Pride Flag Flying on Netflix
10 Philippine LGBTQ+ Books to Read This Pride Month