Review: And The Breadwinner Is... Has Too Many Things Going On

(SPOT.ph) Vice Ganda stars in And the Breadwinner Is… as Bambi, who at the start of the movie is an OFW in Taiwan. She regularly sends money to support her family back in Pampanga, who are supposed to be using that money to build a new house. Bambi comes back home, though, and finds that their house is in complete disrepair, and much of the money she sent back is gone, and their house is actually in danger of being lost to some lenders. Now she and her siblings (Eugene Domingo, Jhong HIlario, Kokoy de Santos and Maris Racal) all have to band together to save their home.

Not the typical lionization of OFWs

The movie has some pretty intriguing things to say about the very concept of a family’s sole breadwinner. It doesn’t settle for the typical lionization of the OFW, and instead begins to grapple with something more complex. It criticizes a society that makes heroes out of people whose lives are endless sacrifice, smartly pointing out that maybe there is something broken in a system where this is not just a regular occurrence but something held up as a model for personal advancement.

In the film’s most cogent moments, this is just what the film is. It’s an argument, and a conversation. There is something being unraveled here, and the characters are used to voice various opinions. There is one particular sequence in this movie that plays out as one long take, where the characters are arguing with each other. And here, the movie poses some interesting questions. What really is the extent of responsibility an individual has for their family? Is it selfish to want to be happy, to have something that is one’s own? In this sequence, and in many others, Vice Ganda shows off a depth of emotion that is rather stunning, unleashing what feels like generational and class angst in a bravura piece of acting.

Also read: Review: 'Uninvited' is A Satisfying Drama—To a Degree

And the Breadwinner is... structurally, it's all over the place

Here is the issue: this is only one part of the movie. Structurally, it’s all over the place. It is kind of a farce that involves an insurance scam that will have its star reprising some of her signature movie roles. It is a family drama that is kind of about the siblings pulling together to reopen the family bakery. Occasionally, some thugs will show up trying to claim their house, and the characters have to chase them away somehow. Conveniently, the thugs don’t show up too often. Since the big fear in this movie is the loss of the house, one would figure that these thugs would be a major concern. But they show up, leave, and then for long stretches, one doesn’t have to think at all about the looming danger of losing the house.

And then there’s the last bit, which takes the movie into an entirely different territory once again. It is a bit that's symptomatic of a movie that doesn’t really work to resolve its conflicts. The characters do have arcs, but the big changes in them seem to happen over a line or two. And here in the last stretch, the movie doesn’t really solve anything. It just reaches for cheap sentiment and makes it out like something has fundamentally changed.

Still, the movie provides something worth considering. And The Breadwinner Is… has too many things going on, but when it settles down and really examines what it’s talking about, it exhibits a thoughtfulness that feels unusual in this context. Flawed as it is, this feels like a welcome evolution in the Vice Ganda picture, and it’s intriguing to imagine where else the star can go. She is, after all, someone in a position to spread this kind of thoughtfulness, and based on her performance in this film alone, there could be a lot to look forward to.

Rating: 3 stars

Also read: 'The Kingdom' is A Remarkable Achievement, and Vic Sotto is Terrific in It