Lorna Movie Review: Shamaine Buencamino Delivers An Awesome Performance Of A Lifetime

DEFINITELY ONE of the year’s best films is Sigrid Andrea Bernardo’s “Lorna”, the story of a single mom looking for love played with so much charm and conviction by Shamaine Centenera Buencamino. Just like her debut flick, “Huling Cha Cha ni Anita”, Bernardo’s “Lorna” is told in a stylized manner, starting with the black and white opening scene where Lorna is seen in a bloody shoot out with her ex-husband (Jim Paredes). The gun is a recurring leitmotif in the film and it’s often used to end a scene. There two such notable scenes. One is a love scene where Lorna and her lover fire their respective guns and confetti rains over them. The other one is when Lorna’s two best friends fight in front of her and she shoots them both dead.

Lorna has a son with Jim, Ardie (Dominic Roco), but he never married her and now, he’s about to marry Angel Aquino (in another great cameo performance.) She’s hoping she’ll find Mr. Right in her chat mate, Johnny (Miguel Faustman), but he, too, also suddenly abandons her. She next finds romance in a former classmate, Rocky (Lav Diaz), and they go to bed, only for her hopes to be dashed again when he migrates abroad. But in the end, after all the heartbreaks, Lorna bounces back anew to show she’s a strong resilient woman who’s ready to take life head on. Despite the heartaches, this is still very much a feel good movie that celebrates life and relationships, even if they are failed ones.

Shamaine is simply awesome in the title role. It’s her best performance in her entire career and how she lost as Cinema One best actress is no less than a crime. She delivers a performance that, just like the film itself, is both hilarious and moving. The scene alone where she faces the mirror in her bra and panties, all her excess weight and “bilbil” blatantly staring back at her, is already unforgettable. We doubt if any name actress would have the courage to do that. But Shamaine is so good even in delivering all her lines, whether she’s talking to her cat Basilio, to her friends (Maria Isabel Lopez and Raquel Villavicencio), to her lovers, or to herself doing the voice over narrations.

Her scenes with her friends are so funny, what with the scene-stealing Maribel Lopez delivering all her risqué lines in such a maliciously effective manner. The scenes with Lav range from being hilarious to devastating. Their first date is a hoot, especially when Lav takes her home and there is an awkward moment between them, with Lav saying “Kape?” And they end up having more wine instead. When Lav kisses her for the first time, her reaction is to cry and it’s such an aching poignant moment. We didn’t know Lav, an internationally acclaimed director, can be such a natural actor. He sounds he’s just like adlibbing his lines. He and Shamaine look like real people, not just make believe characters. They’re even shown doing a nude love scene. And mind you, she’s no sexpot and he’s no hunk, but it’s very touching.

“Lorna” is a master work. It deserves to be seen by more people. And we can’t wait to see the future films of Sigrid Andrea Bernardo who threatens to be one of the most reliable writers-directors in local cinema.