senior year

The high school that Senior Year shows is the high school that I know. I have never seen a more honest, more vibrant depiction. This is not the oversexed, ultra-hip, super-rich, privileged variety shown in Western TV, or the overwrought, lachrymose, mechanical high school dramas shown in local shows. In this high school, teachers are real characters, lovelorn students leave anonymous letters, graduating students fret over college entrance exams, and players cry when their batch loses during the intramurals. Here, the characters talk in class and with each other, and every time, they sound exactly like high school students – overeager, overconfident, a little bit naive. They speak in cliches (“Wala kasi tayong batch unity, e.”), use generic terms, and at times are unintentionally funny, but always, always, you see that shrug, that smile, that says you cannot touch them because they are invincible. And then, years later, the things that used to mean the world to them, they forget. High school has always been bittersweet, and Senior Year works because it offers no false note.

What could be better than watching Senior Year with your high school friends? Jaykie’s my date. After the movie, we had dinner. It was a good night.