More than just your typical Christmas RomCom

MANILA – In wide-eyed horror, my initial reaction when the opening of "Alles is Liefde" (Love is All) started rolling was: "this is the Dutch version of the 2003 British film 'Love Actually.'"

But after the first scene, the film shies away from its English counterpart and establishes a story of its own. The film is directed by Joram Lürsen.

The story begins at a time nearing St. Nicholas Day (December 6). In Dutch tradition, St. Nick's arrival from Spain onboard a steamboat is a very big celebration, with children gathering on the harbor, a grand parade with the royal family, and live broadcasts on national television.

Things go out of hand, however, when a theater actor who has been playing St. Nicholas has a heart attack and dies minutes before show-time.

To fill in his place, a gloomy man who hates Santa dons the red-and-white costume and even saves a little girl from drowning in the first scenes.

How's that for a start? Things get even more exciting from there.

Love dilemmas

At the center of the celebration is Jan (Michiel Romeyn), a stand-in who became an instant celebrity, all because of his nasty remarks and very anti-hero portrayal of the white-bearded man.

Although lauded and loved by Dutch viewers, he considers the red mitre a curse since it held him back from what he was initially set out to accomplish in Amsterdam.

Around him are characters with ups and downs in their own love lives. As the movie progresses, their lives intertwine and collide with each other.

"Love Actually", a 2003 film directed by Richard Curtis, started off with everybody happy and living almost perfect lives, but "Alles is Liefde" differs.

The film discusses marriage woes through character cases like weight-conscious Klaasje van Ophorst (Wendy van Dijk) who just divorced her husband Dennis (Peter Paul Muller), or the case of Ted Coelman (Thomas Acda) who couldn't tell housewife Simone (Anneke Blok) that he got fired from his job.

On the other hand, engaged couple Victor Jollema (Paul de Leeuw) and Kees Tromp (Daan Schuurmans) experience some pre-wedding jitters while Victor's sister, the saleslady Kiki (Carice van Houten) awaits her prince on a white horse.

The characters are not as diverse as those in "Love Actually" but they are endearing nonetheless. The film spends more time discussing each character’s dilemma and as the film ends, the main character’s stories are discussed enough to satisfy viewers.

Love knows no seasons

Being classified as romantic comedy (romcom) makes this film easy to watch again and again. I saw the movie twice during its premiere and I must say it got better and better every time I watched it.

As a matter of fact, you will notice little details like the postcard beauty of Amsterdam and some Dutch Christmas traditions, which are interestingly different from our own.

There are also quintissentially Dutch scenes like legal same-sex marriage and quirky scenes of vehicles chained to a bridge.

Unlike most roncoms or Christmas movies, "Alles is Liefde" opens quite gloomily. The characters’s lives are not as perfect and happy, and as the movie progresses, the characters seem to be falling out of love. 

What I like about this film is that it's supposed to be a Christmas story but at the same time, it's not just that. If you look closely, the situations the characters are in can happen any day of the year: Your lover can walk out of your wedding, your husband can cheat on you, your prince charming might stand you up, and in all your assumptions, you could be wrong.

The characters do not just run after their happiness because it's Christmas. They make their decisions because at the end of the whirlwind drama, they know they deserve to be happy.

But like all romcoms, it has a happy ending, and you’ll somehow feel relieved that it does. The story is more streamlined, more powerful, more emotionally touching.

After the end credits rolled, the constant comment I heard from fellow satisfied viewers was: "I like it better than 'Love Actually.'"

And guess what, it is better, because it seems more realistic and less stylized than its Hollywood counterpart.

My verdict: The soundtrack is not my cup of tea but if you can tolerate it for the next hour and a half, the movie is worth seeing any time of the year. Report by Leilani Chavez, abs-cbnNEWS.com.