He has a sad past as a child after having seen his dad commit suicide and he grew up with a big chip on his shoulder and with a heavy ax to grind against humanity. He has a rather impersonal, businesslike arrangement with his classy and sophisticated girlfriend (Bubbles Paraiso) and he actually seems quite detached from her.
He suffers from insomnia and spends his nocturnal hours reading in a small cafe where he meets Aya (Anne Curtis), a bubbly, free spirited waitress who comes from a poor dysfunctional family. She acts as the breadwinner of her sick dad and younger siblings, including a sister who got pregnant while still in high school.
Her mom is an entertainer in Japan who she and her family haven’t seen for 18 years and her ambition in life is to follow her mom in Japan and also work there. The busy, overly serious Sid gets attracted to the perky Aya and starts paying her good money just to keep him company while he cannot sleep. It’s easy to deduce where the story will eventually be going, even if the movie’s title insists that it’s not a love story. Good performances make a movie worth watching. When you’re watching a movie, it’s the presence and the performances of the actors that attract you first and foremost. It’s the device that is primarily used to tell us the film’s story so there’s something special about an actor who succeeds in inhabiting his role perfectly. And this is what Dingdong does in the movie.
As if he’s not that busy enough, Dingdong also signed up with the GMA Pinoy Foundation that will give GMA Network Excellence scholarships to young Filipinos who want to finish their college education in communications and technology-based courses. This makes some folks say that this indicates that Dingdong is really running for senator in the next election, but he refuses to confirm it. “Malayo pa ang election, huwag na muna nating pag-usapan yan,” he says.
