Fifty First Dates

Is the Filipino way of courting still practiced by the younger set? Does a guy still visit the house of the girl, bring some flowers or chocolates or what-have-you, ask for the permission of the girl’s father, so that he could talk to his daughter, etc, etc? I think this is too corny and cheesy to some, or it might even be already unheard of these days. Of course for us born in the decades almost not found in the choices of airlines ticket reservations, Filipino courtship was an art. Guys took courting seriously, lest they be shooed away by the elders. Being courted the traditional way made a young girl feel special; while for the young man, being answered by the girl being wooed after several ‘tests’ of patience made it all worthwhile. I had my share of those dalaw moments from suitors (Naku, ang yabang!). My sisters and I have even experienced being serenaded once by young men in my mother’s province, Majayjay, Laguna. And the feeling? Ay, ang haba ng buhok ng mga lola ninyo!

So to give us a refresher course on the art of paniningalang pugad, let us hear once again from my bery punny prend, Mikey Bustos. (What? He’s my twitter friend!)

                                       Movie Recall:       50 First Dates (2004)

The Story:

Henry Roth lives in a Hawaiian paradise with the company of endless women with no strings attached. This is until he meets Lucy Whitmore. Both Henry and Lucy enjoy each other's company and feels the start of a serious relationship occurring. Approaching Lucy the next day, Henry is confused when Lucy fails to recognize him. This is the moment Henry discovers that Lucy actually suffers from short term memory loss and can't remember each individual day. Henry won't let this stop him and is prepared to make her fall in love with him all over again, each and every day.

My Review:

Of all the preposterous love stories I’ve seen, this was the most romantic for me. For isn’t this the dream guy of every girl—that he strives to make her fall in love with him each day? And that every kiss would feel like her first? So sweet! There were so many hilarious moments, and my favourite is when Lucy beat the hell out of Ula, Henry’s friend, because she thought that the former was a robber. Major ‘awww’ scene at the end. I don't know with you, but this movie might have been tagged as a romantic comedy, but it has never failed to make me teary eyed!


Trivia:

Originally entitled "50 First Kisses" but changed to avoid confusion with Drew Barrymore's vehicle Never Been Kissed (1999).

The neurological condition that Lucy suffers from, Goldfield Syndrome, is entirely fictional. True anterograde amnesia affects either short-term memory, which can last minutes or seconds, or intermediate-term memory, which can last days or weeks. Falling asleep has nothing to do with the condition, and sleep actually intensifies many chemical effects which help memory.

Henry makes a video for Lucy to remind her of the events that have occurred since her accident. One of the items is "Red Sox wins the World Series..." followed by "... Just Kidding". During the year of the film's release, the Red Sox actually broke an 86-year drought and won the World Series.

                                           Love this version of Somewhere over the Rainbow!