Imagine following your long-term dreams and being able to achieve it in some sort.
One will find themselves saying “sana all” upon seeing Jazz In Love, a slice of the life of a certain Jazz, a boy hailing from Malita, Davao del Sur (now part of Davao Occidental), a rural area some three hours away from Davao City.
At the beginning of the documentary, Jazz is seen waiting for his German language test results, one of the requirements for migration to Germany to which he, along with his other friends, passes. While footage of those are shown, a voiceover gets to grab the attention of viewers: Jazz in a sweet conversation with his German boyfriend, Theodor. And he really seems to be thrilled in their relationship. He outlines his plans when he gets to Germany and with them being together, and all that.
As everyone probably knows, Jazz met Theodor online. Jazz himself says of it in the film. Then as the film goes, Jazz shares his experiences with his friends about his online dating life, the learning of the German language, etc. Then perhaps the most “sana all” part of the film is when Theodor tells Jazz that he comes to Davao, to which Jazz excites and thrills, takes a bus trip to the city, waits for Theodor at the airport, and boom, there Theodor is, to which Jazz gets elated to the maximum, that they finally get to see each other in person. That must be so fulfilling on the side of Jazz where he unlocks this achievement of meeting his foreign boyfriend from online, even before Jazz is able to get to Germany, a achievement he has yet to unlock. And as expected, they go on dates, dates, and dates. The People’s Park, the Shrine Hills, the Kadayawan Festival… and yes, Jazz’s hometown in Malita, where a grand birthday celebration abounds.
But it’s not all unicorns and rainbows, though. As in this blog’s title, it’s more than just a love story. Worth considering that Jazz is clearly one of millions of members of the LGBTQIA+ community, prejudices against them are, unfortunately, expected and unavoided. Especially since he lives in a rural area, such areas are usually considered to be traditional in nature, and knowing the conservativeness of the Church in the Philippines, it doesn’t get any better. A pastor on the radio even quotes that according to the law of man and the law of God, “only man and woman can be one”, “same-sex marriage is wrong”, and that “we have to keep our own principles…we can’t just imitate everything”. And in the context of pastors, one pastor even interrogates Jazz and his friends about being gay, to which his friends half-heartedly joke about them being straight men, that they need to “repent”, and that Jazz also jokingly tells one of his gay friends to just “kill yourself” for being such. They jokingly tell the pastor that they “regret” being gay. While they seem to have good vibes during that scene, it must be disheartening to them deep inside.
However, there is a catch: despite Jazz being situated in a rural place, he is so fortunate to have a community accepting of gays, even his own family. For as long as Theodor lives up to his promise of getting Jazz a decent job when the time comes that the boyfriends live together in Germany. And yes, Theodor is warmly welcomed by Jazz’s community in the latter’s birthday celebration.
But the film being “more than just a love story” doesn’t end there. Some obstacle enters in the way of their relationship. They immediately encounter some sort of “tampuhan”, and they seem to not be in good terms with each other. The ending is quite of a cliffhanger as the end titles only tell of their lives post-movie, yet stating that they are still together. The question is, almost a decade on, how have they fared?
This film aims to strengthen representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in film, especially of the documentary genre, as well as serving as a constant reminder that love is not all unicorns and rainbows, that both must find ways to overcome certain obstacles together as a couple.
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