A FEW days ago, I got the chance to watch Exes Baggage – the first feature film starring 90’s love team Carlo Aquino and Angelica Panganiban. Growing up, I’ve seen them on TV and have fostered affection for them. Whenever they were onscreen, I’d always feel this warmth on my face. They were the first local love team I’ve ever seen who openly admitted they were in a romantic relationship. That has caused me to root for them at the tender age of 10.
Now that they are back onscreen, I can’t help but devour all their interviews and wish they really are back together. A part of me knows all of this is just publicity. But the child in me still wants to root for them and their happiness together.
Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen the film, best not to continue reading this article. If you still want to continue, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Exes Baggage is the story of Nix (played by Carlo Aquino) and Pia (played by Angelica Panganiban). The film begins with Nix and Pia seeing each other at their friends’ bar opening. You could feel the tension as they try to do small talks. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out these two characters have a history together. It’s shown by the way their friends behave around them. Their attempt at nonchalance is so straining yet that’s what makes it so real. “The torture of small talk with someone you used to love.” as what Fall Out Boy’s song goes.
Their love story unfolds in a nonlinear manner. It’s interesting how their meet cute is at a bar. (A meet cute is the part of a romantic film where the central characters meet for the first time.) Recent Filipino films have used bars as settings for central characters to meet but Exes Baggage executes the trope in an organic way that makes you think, “Hey! That really does happen in real life.”
The film weaves in and out of the past and present. We are brought into a scene where the two chat about falling in love again at a 24 hour convenience store which is as contemporary as convenience stores are ubiquitous nowadays. This scene sparks how their relationship starts casually and eventually becomes serious.
The film shows the high and low points of any romantic relationship. From sharing a home and meeting parents to restrained confrontations, Exes Baggage poignantly presents romantic realities as they are – two people desiring to be loved and full of unspoken insecurities.
Aquino and Panganiban portray their respective characters with such finesse and honesty that you can’t help but root for their romantic success. And yet, their characters betray this wish fulfillment by being who they are. Pia by being overly nurturing yet not receiving the reassurance she wants to hear from Nix and Nix not being able to give the reassurance because he, himself, is insecure. This prompts their breakup.
During the third act of the film, we see Nix pouring out his regrets to Pia without being overly dramatic. “Ako kasi eh. Papasok ng relasyon, hindi naman pala handa,” he says. Nix leaves but Pia calls and catches up to him. The film ends.
Most of you might think they’ll get back together. Maybe they will. For me, I just wish they’d have the closure they need. I surely got what I needed to hear from Carlo Aquino.