A Very Good Girl

I really wanted to like this film and had high hopes as it was recommended by a friend.

Production, acting and cinematography was "Class A" but the writing, script and overall plot could have been more polished. I love how ambitious and different the premise was from the usual fare of Filipino cinema, but the film in many ways still fell into a cadence of plot devices typical of mainstream Filipino telenovelas and dramas- which disappointed me and had me itching to leave the theater towards the end.

Overall, while I appreciate how timely, witty and fun the overall experience was, I do not appreciate adding story elements for sheer shock value. It just felt like lazy writing to me. I have much hope though, for these two veteran actresses and the Filipino audience as a whole- if more stories that defied expectations were made, I would be a very happy critic.

At first, when i was watching it feels like that has a vibes of ten little mistresses. WHICH same genre or inspired in "Knives Out". The narrating is quite okay, no bias the story should need to polished. I mean ending is just karma. I give it a 6.0%/10%, 7.9% in acting, 6.0% in music, 7.9% in producing. ITS VERY ENTERTAINMENT FOR ME. Revenge drama like this is like "Ten Little Mistresses".

We have to realize that not all people are trusted so easiy. The motive of the main character is quite obvious that because people deceive you, and money deceive you as well. Overall my advice is the writing should be polished. This movie have another storytelling as well "Nanahimik ang Gabi".

No pun intended - and also no Shaft in this one. Though someone who seeks revenge and retribution for something that happened in the past. The evil character is almost a caricature - though her actions feel even worse at times (like staying alone in a room with someone who clearly hates you) ... and then there is the convenient ending ... but let's leave that aside (full circle it is supposed to be - but not as clever as it thinks it is ... is what Yoda would say).

All that said, if you like crime thrillers you might be satisfied .. maybe you even get surprised by a few things (whether that is positive or negative ... will be up to you) ... so just suspend your disbelief and dive into it ... don't mind the overacting either of course.

I don't regularly watch chich flicks or even Tagalog films, so for me this was a fun change of pace. Which also means this movie is pretty good and well done. The editing is very modern for today's generation which has short attention spans. The acting by the 2 lead women is fantastic and most of the women characters are well developed. I won't say the film is anti-male, but they purposely made the few male characters into bad generic roles. Despite the long running time, the movie is fast paced and has a deep story that is both fun to watch and keeps you interested in the back story. You really get to know all the characters hearts and by the end you really want Philo to committ the ultimate sin before the the ultimate karma comes for Mother. This is a good movie, not your typical Filipino romance drama you see all the time.

I know that the writers wanted to tell a good story on this one, although a revenge plot is nothing new depends on how it was executed and how the story unfolds, however A Very Good Girl failed to achieve that storytelling for Mercy, co'z I felt nothing as it reaches the end of the film.

The story felt rushed, maybe the script writing was constrained on how to squeeze a series-long revenge story in a 2-hour movie. Mercy's character development is one thing, then the revenge scheme is another. I really felt the disconnect between Mercy and Philo, sayang.

I really believe this film had potential, if only it was given more time on the script writing and maybe peer reviews from other writers? Next time hopefully...