BEYOND THE MAKEUP transformations, ‘Die Beautiful’ shows what it means to be a gay man by taking viewers along on the journey — from being unaccepted at home and surviving sexual abuse, to becoming a beauty queen, and ultimately, a transwoman.

The film could be faulted for lack of focus, trying to cover every corner of Trisha/Patrick’s life — her family, her love life, her friends, and the family she’s building — played by Paolo Ballesteros. I had an issue with how the flashbacks were handled, and one problematic scene where the child Trisha adopted asks who her mother is, as though she’d been adopted as a newborn. Outside of that, the film holds together fine.

Jun Robles Lana‘s direction is exemplary, and the film carries real cinematic polish throughout.

While the story leans heavily on Ballesteros’ own real-life persona — his popular makeup transformations, being a father to a young girl, among other things — ‘Die Beautiful’ still manages to pull us deep into the life of a gay beauty queen: her struggles at home, her hardships on the pageant circuit, and her long road toward becoming the woman she wants to be.

Though it stumbles by never quite landing what could’ve been a stronger ending around the lead character’s family, ‘Die Beautiful’ — which chooses to leave the ‘what ifs’ and ‘what could have beens’ to the audience — remains a beautiful film, well worthy of its MMFF 2016 spot.

The film is as colorful as its lead character’s life, and the humor woven through its dialogue, along with characters that perfectly reflect a gay community that loves beauty contests to bits, makes it a wonderful Filipino film worth the audience’s time and money. Since we hadn’t had a film centered on a gay beauty-contestant character quite like Trisha before, consider ‘Die Beautiful’ another breakthrough for the visibility of the LGBT community.

Paolo Ballesteros made up as Beyonce in this scene in ‘Die Beautiful.’

Ballesteros owns the film. His performance here makes him a strong contender in his own right, on top of his recent international accolades. It wouldn’t surprise us if he won MMFF 2016 Best Actor, a fitting addition to the best actor wins he already picked up in Japan and India for this same film. But his best friend in the film, Barbs, played by Christian Bables, deserves just as much attention. Beyond a possible ‘Best Supporting Actor’ nod, Bables is an actor worth watching — pretty, stunning, and delivering the role with flying colors.

‘Die Beautiful’ warms the heart, its lead characters throwing punchlines sharp enough to make you laugh in between the heartfelt, and even the saddest, scenes. There were moments this blogger shed a quiet tear while trying not to burst out laughing right after. It was one hell of a rollercoaster of a movie experience, without ever tipping into melodrama or slapstick.

Calling it a must-watch feels like an understatement. Beyond Trisha’s colorful life, the film is about every gay man whose love for beauty contests is as big as his heart. It’s about the hunk we all know — maybe a gay magnet, someone who could take advantage of the gay men around him, or offer one his sincerest love. It’s about that one father you wouldn’t wish on anyone, for his closed-mindedness and selfishness. It’s about friendship. It’s about beauty. It’s about the many faces of love.

‘Die Beautiful’ is a poignant film about being Filipino, if not about being human in general. Go watch ‘Die Beautiful’ and let it touch your life, even just a little.

Rating: 8/10

Note: ‘Die Beautiful’ is one of the eight film entries in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2016. We’ll do our best to watch and review all the films in this blog within the week. Read the rest of our reviews by clicking this link.