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Netflix review: 'Keys to the Heart' an acting showcase

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Fred Hawson

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Zanjoe Marudo and Dolly de Leon in " Keys="" to="" the="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/10/07/20231007-keys-to-the-heart.jpg"/><figcaption>Zanjoe Marudo and Dolly de Leon in &#x27;Keys to the Heart.&#x27; <em>Netflix</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Joma Hermano (Zanjoe Marudo) was a 39-year old down-and-out ex-boxer who had lost his license. One day, he lost his job as a sparrer in a boxing gym, and was bumped by a car on his way out. His long-estranged mother Sylvia (Dolly de Leon) took him in despite his contempt for her for abandoning him in the past. She now had a younger 21-year old son Joselito &quot;Jayjay,&quot; who had high-functioning autism, and a virtuosic talent for playing the piano.</p><p>After a rough start, Joma and Jayjay eventually got along. Sylvia requested Joma to take care of Jayjay while she needed to be away in Batangas for her work. She also asked Joma to help Jayjay enter a prestigious piano playing competition sponsored by the elite Batiquin Conservatory. When Joma found out that Jayjay was a fan of retired pianist Annette Labayen (Michelle Marquez Dee), they sought her out to get a recommendation.</p><p>If the plot sounds familiar, it was probable that you may have seen its original 2018 Korean film of the same title. That film starred superstar Lee Byung-hun in the elder brother role, and Academy Award winner (for &quot;Minari&quot;) Youn Yuh-jung in the mother role. In that original film, as with this Filipino adaptation, it was the emotionally-moving acting performances of the three lead actors that elevated the familiarity and predictability of the plot. </p><p>For me, the movie came alive when Jayjay played on the old abandoned piano in the Labayen mansion. From then on, every time Jayjay played the piano, be it Chopin or Rimsky-Korsakov or Tchaikovsky, Elijah Canlas&#x27;s realistic performance in those scenes made me teary-eyed. Dolly de Leon played a mother directly opposite to the one she played in her current theatrical hit &quot;A Very Good Girl.&quot; Her sad kindly eyes and face convey much more than she says.</p><p>Statuesque current Ms. Philippines Universe Michelle Dee struck an elegant silhouette as Annette Labayen, although her acting still needs further honing. Tirso Cruz III as her father Don Roldan Labayen, only had one scene with dialogue, when he confronted the snooty snob Cesar, the director of the Batiquin conservatory, played by Bart Guingona. Althea Pinzon was a delightful presence as Jayjay&#x27;s friend Apple, while Katya Santos played her coquettish mother Eva.</p><p>From the very first act of this film, all the typical tropes of family melodrama were already very evident. A loser in life estranged from his mother, who is now saddled with a special child, who just so happened to be a musical prodigy. </p><p>We&#x27;ve seen so many permutations of these stories already in past dramas, such that we can somehow predict what was going to happen. When the mother began exhibiting a worsening cough, the clearer the plot became. </p><div><em>This review was originally published in the author&#x27;s blog, <a href="https://said-fred.blogspot.com/2023/10/netflix-review-of-keys-to-heart.html" target="_blank">&quot;Fred Said.&quot;</a></em></div>

It was the emotionally-moving acting performances of the three lead actors -- Zanjoe Marudo, Dolly de Leon and Elijah Canlas -- that elevated the familiarity and predictability of the plot. 