‘Walwal’: A movie millennials can relate to

MANILA, Philippines – A movie written by millennials for millenials is how film director Jose Javier Reyes described Walwal.

While the title might have a negative connotation, lead stars Elmo Magalona, Donny Pangilinan, Kiko Estrada, and Jerome Ponce all agreed that the new offering from Regal Entertainment is more than a movie about teenage drinking.

“The movie is written and done by young people and directed by a senior citizen. That’s Walwal,” direk Joey joked during the press conference for the movie last June 5.

Walwal is a coming of age story about 4 young men, Dondi (Elmo), Marco (Kiko), Intoy (Jerome), and Bobby (Donny). Now in their late teens they experience the pains of broken dreams, rejection, failure, and heartbreak.

Together, Dondi, Intoy, Marco, Boddy aims to give a whole new meaning to walwal. For them, it’s about genuine friendship — building a strong support system, surrounding yourself with people you know you can trust. As the film’s tagline goes, “kapag WALa WALang sila sa buhay, karamay nila ang isa’t isa.” (If they have nothing in life, they are there for each other.)

“Sa film makikita mo na, yes nandun ‘yung part na walwal (In the film, you’ll see that yes there’s the part that everyone’s wasted), but you also see a completely different side to all of us. People think this generation is all about drinking and forgetting. That’s really not true. We learn from our mistakes and people get to understand kung bakit ba nila ginagawa ‘yun, kung paano ba mag-isip millennials (why we as millenials do it, why we think like that),” Donny said.

The demand for the genre is ever growing and there’s a good reason why. With coming-of-age movies such as Walwal, there is always something for everyone. At best, a younger crowd sees their day-to-day struggles perfectly represented on the big screen, and watch their idols navigate through the challenges of adulthood, while older viewers get a chance to relive their teenage years, full of angst and identity crisis as they may be.  

“Lahat tayo makaka-relate sa film na ‘to kasi walwal means wants to love, wants to live, wants to laugh. Sino bang ayaw ng ganun? So I really believe that all ages can relate to this film kasi lahat gustong maging masaya, mabuhay at tumawa,” said co-star Kisses Delavin.

(All of us can relate to the movie because walwal means wants to love, wants to live, wants to laugh. Who doesn’t want that? So I really believe that all can relate to this film because everyone wants to be happy, alive, and laugh.)

More than just taking a trip down memory lane, by watching Walwal, the stars hope that parents would be able to get a deeper understanding why millennials act and speak the way they do.

“We’re a completely different generation from before and iba na kami mag-isip ngayon (we think differently), so if the parents see how we think. They get to understand, they get to see a different part, a different mindset of who millennials really are,” Kiko said.

The actors also clarified that they are by no means promoting the use of alcohol to get away from problems. While it’s inevitable for some, they stressed the importance of knowing when to say no, and understanding one’s limitations.

“Ang importante ‘pag nag-walwal ka, its not supposed to mean na tinatapon mo na ‘yung buhay mo or bahala na or wala na kong pakialam sa future mo. May moments tayo na ganyan pero kailangan natin tandaan na isang gabi lang ito. We [need] to go back to kung ano talaga importante sa atin the next day,” Elmo explained.

(What’s important if you’re drink, it’s not supposed to mean that you’re throwing away your life or you don’t care what happens to your future. We have moments like that but we need to remember that this is just one night. We [need] to go back to what’s important to us the next day.)

Walwal hits theaters June 27. – Rappler.com