“Bro”, the latest addition to Sun Life Financial Philippines‘ “Kaakbay” campaign has finally dropped on July 27 starring the father and son duo Piolo & Iñigo Pascual. Continuing the narrative of life partners set up from Enchong and Matteo‘s films which were released previously, this particular feature tells the story of the Pascuals as shaped by the “stage” that connects and bounds them to one another.
It is a known fact in the world of Philippine show business that Piolo Pascual, one of the country’s most idolized leading men of his generation, had his son at a relatively early stage in his career. “Bro” explores this with personal anecdotes from the pair solidifying their relationship as life partners – Iñigo moving to the U.S. after getting bullied for having a celebrity father, and Piolo flying for overnight trips just to watch his son perform on stage are just some of the stories unveiled throughout the 4-minute film.
Their strong bond was beautifully depicted in the film with words straight from Piolo and Iñigo, themselves:
“It’s never easy. We make mistakes, we go through tough times. Nag-aaway kami (we argue), but we make sure to work it out. We say sorry to each other, we learn from each other.
“He’s my son. He’s my best friend. He’s my Bro. And he’s my lifetime partner.”, Piolo declared.
In turn, Iñigo also shared how much he valued their “brotherly” father-and-son relationship:
“I can’t imagine myself without my dad. Especially right now, I just feel like we have this special bond. I can easily say that my dad is my best friend.”
Perhaps the most obvious distinction of this certain film, as compared to the others in the campaign, is the fact that it stars two people – two people telling one story. This gave Director Jun Reyes, Creative Head of Indie.Go, a challenge to work with in telling a powerful story between two individuals while still maintaining a sense of oneness and cohesion throughout the feature.
Direk Jun, however, tackled this creatively in a way that despite the Piolo and Iñigo scenes being shot on different days due to their schedules not meeting (a true testament to how difficult it is for the father and son duo’s schedules to coincide), the story and dialogue flowed seamlessly and in perfect symmetry. This is also brought about by Direk Jun’s creative decision to have them occupy opposite sides of the frame to portray an image of two talking to one another and have them own their space in the shot.
“The design of the shots for Iñigo and Piolo, being two people – the design, so that screen direction-wise, Iñigo was always shot looking left and Piolo was deliberately shot looking right. So when we cut the films together, and you cut them both together, you could see an actual conversation happening between the two of them. It’s a filmic language that we used so that the viewers won’t be confused from each point of view. That was a design that was set forth from Day 1.”
With the release of the third instalment to the 4-part series, the last and concluding chapter in the campaign is set to launch this Saturday, August 3 at 9 AM. Starring Charo Santos-Concio, the film will star the love story that shook Manila to its core.
The whole campaign is also hand-in-hand with an online contest by Sun Life Financial in search for the best kaakbay story. Entrants are invited to comment their piece on the campaign videos from Jul. 13 (Sat) to Aug. 11, 2019 (Sun) for a chance to win 3 Days and 2 Nights roundtrip tickets to Singapore for 2.
