Words & music

Agot Isidro

It’s been shown in a few theaters before, but “Changing Partners” is being screened in wider release this month, so it deserves viewers’ supportive perusal. What makes it particularly viewable is its being one of the few new musical films produced this season, with its four leads, Agot Isidro, Jojit Lorenzo, Sandino Martin, and Anna Luna, expressing their feelings not just with words, but also in soulful song.

It’s also a gender-bending tale, megged by Dan Villegas, with the leads inhabiting multiple persons and getting involved in multiple cross-gender relationships.

After viewing the film, it’s expected that viewers will arrive at a new and more informed understanding of the nature, essence and possibilities of gender.

Agot’s participation in this film is noteworthy, because it’s a clear departure for her. Her past TV-film portrayals have tended to be predictable and “categorizable,” but she’s now harder to pin down—and that’s all to the good.

“Changing Partners” is also a notable assignment for the much younger Sandino Martin, because he comes straight from another musical film, “Ang Larawan,” in which he unexpectedly bagged the plum role of the narrator, Bitoy Camacho.

For Sandino to do two musical movies in a row is a unique achievement for one so young, so we hope that he ends up doing well in both, to prove to all and sundry that he has more than good connections and/or luck going for him, and deserves the big breaks he’s been getting.