“Clik, Clok, Clak” Series Review (Ep.1 to 4)

“Your first love is always alive and lives all time in your heart. How much you try to forget, it never goes away from your heart”

– LoveQuotesPlus.Com

It always intrigues me how love can be portrayed in an infinite variety of ways in cinema. Sometimes it makes sense, while other times it does not. This series does not make complete sense, yet its love does. This love is as deep and as infinite as the universe. Let me try to explain this predicate.

There are only two individuals in this series. One is a frustrated college student, named Anton (Daryll Rodriquez), working feverishly to complete an assignment for his computer curriculum. He seemingly is under a lot of pressure to complete it and do well. There is no question he is stressed out and very anxious about the results of his project. Not merely because it is required for him to continue his studies, but to please his family. But there is another part, perhaps a large part, of him that fancies a dancer and he has posted a number of his dance videos online in the hope that he would be noticed by his favorite dancer, Miguel (Mark Ersaga). He fantasizes about dancing with Miguel and being with him.

There is a duo dance contest coming up soon, and he hopes that Miguel would pick him to be his partner. As luck and perhaps fate would have it, Miguel does call him via the computer and picks him, as he has been following his dance videos for a while. During his conversation with Anton, Miguel drops more than subtle hints that he is also attracted to Anton, just as intensely as Anton is into Miguel. As they get to know each other, they get into some very deep discussions about life. Miguel senses that something is troubling Anton. He explains to Miguel that he just found out he failed his computer project and therefore will have to leave his housing. And when he told his mother the bad news, she is indifferent because she informs him that she is divorcing his father.

What transpires next is a brilliant disquisition about life’s paradoxes. Miguel analyzes life both in meaningful and meaningless terms within the same discourse. It was brilliant, eye-opening, and deeply reflective, with an almost fatalistic ring to it without knowing why.

After some discussion, both decide it is time to practice and they do. Rather intensely and passionately. Almost in a dream-lie state, they appear to be dancing together, but they are not. That is how intensely they are taking this practice and contest. But suddenly, Miguel collapses on the floor. Anton is beside himself, not knowing what to do or how to help. He frantically and in a panic calls out Miguel’s name over and over to wake up.

After some time, Miguel does so, and confesses to Anton that he is dying of a form of leukemia and his time is limited. That is why this contest is so important to him. Essentially it is his last hurrah. Anton is beside himself with fear, a sense of futility, and facing a profound feeling of a personal loss. He finally found the one person in this life he could love and be loved with. Soon to be gone. Miguel, ever contemplative and accepting of fate, tells Anton to concentrate on winning the contest.

And they do. But the celebration is short-lived as Miguel collapses and is obviously dying, with Anton looking on from his computer, with very little control over this and wanting desperately to be with him. Almost as if it is an imperative. With computer wizardry, he is able to transport himself through the computer screen to Miguel, where in Miguel’s final moments, they are able to hold each other and exchange their devotion to one another.

This series is an Avant Garde romp through a mystical journey of love. The ending is perplexing but gives us a sense of enchantment and a harmonious closure. It shows that while they had little time to foster a relationship, what time they had together been spent in doing what they both loved to do, and in their own way.

This journey to love is simply paved into a different pattern for them. This series does not tell a story; just its journey. It exists in an alternative reality, but perhaps if you believe it’s strong enough, it will be true.

I have always been impressed with actors who can take a script that is as non-definitive as this and make it feel real. I am sure both actors were given direction in terms of who these characters were, but they made them come alive. And they made them exist. Both Daryll Rodriquez and Mark Ersaga are outstanding. We see frustration, anger, depression, acceptance, and yes, love come to life for us in an alternative reality. We can only witness it; observe it. Yet, what they felt is so appurtenant to us as we move about the world we created for ourselves. This was a genuine acting challenge, as we had to discern relatable emotions in what is clearly an incomprehensible reality and make it moving. And they did that with brilliance.

I am a great lover of cinema that makes us uncomfortable and does not neatly fit into a box. We then create our own realities about what we just saw. We know what we just saw, but it cannot be real; yet it seems so. They cannot be in love since they have only known each other for a short period of time; yet again, it feels like they are and more importantly, meant to be.

This series is not for everyone. It is an anachronism. You must open your mind to seeing love allegorically. We are merely observers in a world that was created only in the minds of those two characters. And that is what makes it so wonderful, unique and meditative. Are they even real people? Are they dead? Are they dreaming?

I loved this series because it left me to my own imagination. Most will undoubtedly hate it because it is so random and desultory.

It is one of the best love stories I have ever seen. Why? Because it was love that motivated their own sense of reality. It was so pure.

Make it your own story.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5