Saving Sally

Plot synopsis:
The film revolves around Marty (Enzo Marcos) an amateur comic-book artist who sees the world around him as a vivid picture book and also sees most people he dislikes or indifferent to as monsters. Three years ago, when he was still a high school sophomore, Marty was often picked on by a bully until Sally (Rhian Ramos), a gadget inventor, intervened and later helped Marty get revenge by humiliating the said bully in public. The two immediately became best friends, and as time passed, Marty developed romantic feelings for his friend but such feelings remained unrequited. Ever hesitant, Marty struggles to gather the courage to express his true feelings to Sally and drew pictures of his friend and his experiences with her in secret.
The two had adventures together frequently going to the comics store and in one occasion took pictures of sleeping people. As Marty spent time with Sally he also learns that his friend's adoptive parents are strict and suspects that Sally is being physically abused by them. Sometimes Sally reasons out that she is busy with a "secret project". The two developed a system utilizing a high-powered telescope and a code book of signals using clothes, which enabled them to interact than what Sally parents would allow. Marty would sometimes finds Sally with a bruise with Sally often shrugging it off claiming the bruises were from accidents.
The summer after they graduated from high school, Sally and Marty decided to attend the same college together as Fine Arts students and took the entrance exams. Marty was immediately accepted at the institution while Sally was put on the "waiting list" meaning that her admittance to the college isn't certain. Sally remarks that her parents doesn't like her to take a course in Fine Arts anyway. Marty got a call from a comic-book publisher, Renegade Komiks, and got an opportunity to pitch a comic storyline from the eyepatch-wearing editor Toto. At the park at near dusk when the two are in a swing Marty yet attempts to say his true feelings for Sally and his friend is also eager to say something. Marty urged Sally to say what she would want to say and Sally revealed that she has a boyfriend much to Marty's shock.
Marty's father confronted him with his problem and brought him to a place where men go when they are depressed which was later revealed to be a toy car racing venue. Marty's father encouraged him that it was not too late to disclose his feelings to Sally pointing out that if he did he would be the "first in line" if Sally and her boyfriend broke up.
Marty brought some of Sally's stuff to her house. He was greeted by Sally's parents who gave him five minutes to interact with their daughter. Sally revealed that she was grounded after her new mobile phone bought for her by her boyfriend Nick was found out by her parents who forbids her to own a mobile phone. Sally said that she won't be allow to take Fine Arts if she won't broke up with Nick. Sally secretly gave Marty, Nick's contact number.
At a cafe, Marty meets up with Nick who was initially rude to him before Marty introduced himself. Marty had an impression that Nick is a dickhead and literally sees him as a monster. The two discussed about Sally's situation and Nick told Marty to tell Sally that he misses her so much. At Sally's home, Marty agreed to send a letter by Sally intended for Nick. Meanwhile, Marty presented his pitch to Renegade Komiks. The pitch for his comic is a science fiction story about a war between alien invaders and humanity. Toto approves of the work and asks Marty to start making drawings for the comic series and gives him another deadline.
Sally sneaks out of his house one evening and was fetched by Marty who brings her to a shopping mall. Nick meets up with the two at the mall's cinema. Nick, Sally, and a reluctant Marty watches a Hollywood blockbuster action film. Nick thanks Marty the next day and gives him a ticket to a rave party. Marty was reluctant to accept the ticket saying it wasn't his thing but Nick insists saying it was a gift. Nick reveals that Sally is planning to sneak out of her house again, this time to make out with him. This caused Marty to be vigilant of Sally's whereabouts during that evening but failed to intervene. It was later found out that Sally did not became pregnant.
Stuck with his initial comic concept, Marty presented a new story to Toto which is about an astronomer who dedicates his life to a girl trapped by aliens in a prison which revolved around his own experiences with Sally, her parents, and Nick. While initially averse to publishing a love story, Toto decides to give it a try and the comic became a hit.
Nick along with Marty goes to the rave party. Marty got drunk, talked to a girl who says Nick's a friendly guy and sees the girl dancing with Nick. At Nick's car, Marty who is experiencing a hangover expressed ill-feelings to Nick who viewed Marty as ungrateful. Marty also said that the Sally was entertaining the thought of marrying Nick. Nick said that he would marry Sally. Nick lost contact with Marty and Sally after that incident.
Sally began to wonder where Nick is for sometime. She sneaks out of the house again and asks Marty to buy art supplies - in reality parts for her contraptions. The two finds out Nick dating the girl Marty met earlier across the street. Marty tried to charge at Nick but he was stopped by Sally who prevented him from being run over by a vehicle. The two had an argument in Marty's room and Sally found out her friend's secret drawings of her. Marty finally admitted his feelings but Sally isn't ready to commit in a relationship. Marty became depressed and drew grim drawings and compiled it into the "Book of Sad" and sent it to Sally.
The two grew distant from each other as they both enter college. Sally had another boyfriend and Marty had a girlfriend. Nevertheless, fate continued to set them up with each other until one day when Sally approached Marty and asked him to autograph her copy of the comics he wrote. Sally says that she plans to sell the comics with his autograph when he becomes famous. Marty agrees but says that his work is garbage anyway and that it means nothing to him now. Sally disagrees with it and the topic of their conversation changed. Sally reveals that she broke up with her boyfriend and Marty said that his girlfriend has emigrated to Australia. Sally later sends a "Book of Happy", an interactive pop-out book depicting their adventures, to Marty to cheer him up. Noticing a small reproduction of their old code book containing instructions to open the book in reverse, Marty realizes that the book also functions as a flip book, which Sally used to tell him she now reciprocates his feelings.
This rejuvenated Marty's feelings for Sally and immediately goes to her house but he overhears her parents physically beating her. Marty knocks on the door and sees Sally with a bruise on her mouth who explains that it was caused by an accident. Marty refuses to accept the explanation, knowing the real cause of his friend's bruise and urged Sally to run away from her abusive parents. Sally and Marty went to her room to get her stuff but was chased by her parents as they leave the house.
Sally brings Marty to a dumpster where she reveals the "secret project" that she worked on, a hideout full of gadgets. She decides to live there from now on. The credits scene suggests that the two graduated from college and became a couple.

Tags: romantic, comic

Review:
The movie already announced it had a very simple plot, a typical love story.
Critics always said that it is the story that ruined the movie.
But I think that isn't what the director was really aiming for.
It does not complicate matters with a complicated plot with many twists and turns.
It stays with a simple one.
What makes it different is not its story but in the way it told the story.
What makes it different is not its story but in the way it told the story.
The director had to craft a way of telling how Marty sees the world.
And that's how the film unfolds.
The look and feel of Manila is captured through the painting of the city.
It showed how schools really feel, with a rugged, dirty look.
You can see bus stops covered with political agendas.
Security guards sleeping around.
Parks were cherished back then, it is shown by painting and animating these places intricately.It also showed the places and people Marty disliked by giving the places or people a really red look.
ECP cafe, Nick, Sally's Parents, the Cinema.Strangers are portrayed as gray monsters since Marty doesn't really care about them.
The house(or fortress) of Sally is placed on a really far cliff to show how terrifying it feels for Marty whenever he goes there.
He usually walks and dreads the journey going up there.
And to go there by flying is a way of showing that he goes there confidently without fear.
When the monsters, Sally's Parents, Nick, happen to be nice, they are portrayed as humans.
Sally never has a monster form, but appears in many of the artworks Marty does.Lastly, Love is shown as the feeling of floating and flying around in Sally land(drawings of Sally).
Despair is shown as a black room with all of the drawings of Sally falling down.
Emotion is what makes this film different, look at how it portrays many emotions of the main character through the different animations it does during these scenes.
This emotional essence is what makes Filipino media different from all other films abroad, we have more words, more ways to describe and do emotion than a lot of other cultures.
And this is what I would like people to peer more when watching Saving Sally or other Filipino films.I really think critics should also note that this film had been made for the 2005 audience.
And I think if this had more than its hero-monster- saving elements, many of the film's magic in its animation would have been lost to replace it with the story.
The film was made to try a new medium of storytelling.
And I believe that this will inspire young artists to try better story ideas and better ways of telling stories to fuel Philippine Animation and Philippine Cinema to a new golden age..
Worth the wait.
The movie took 12 years to produce and its release was halted due to financial constraints that the production outfit had faced.
But after the long years of waiting this movie to release, the casts and production team behind Saving Sally deserves a big clap for their hard work and it truly inspires me as a multimedia student."Saving Sally" is an epitome of breaking the barriers of the mainstream movie system wherein the real live actors are not the only one who acts within the film but they also incorporated with 2d computer graphics as a characters too.Even though the movie has a simple story plot but it amazed audiences through its impressive and astounding computer graphics animation that makes the movie known to others.Because of this, I gave this movie a rate of 10.
Congratulations to the casts and production staff of Saving Sally, your hard work really paid off!.
If you love Arts and Creativity.
Story: 5/10, Just a common love story you can find everywhere with a very little twist.
Script: 5/10, Dull, there are dead times especially on the first 15- minutes of the movie which is crucial to get the audience in touch.
Should have been better if its a full Tagalog movie rather than a 90/10 English movie.
Script delivery is clear and understandable, just lack some beef and feelings.
Music/BGMusic/SFX: 2/10, Almost ignored on the whole part of the movie, could have compensate the lack in script especially on action/drama parts.Visual: 9/10, Superb, Classic, Unique and Almost Clean.
As fan of Arts and Creativity, I really appreciate how they put real people with those paper-cut-like cartoons and background.
The colors match the mood of the story.
I don't know how to call this Artwork, Retro?
Abstract?
but this mostly the thing that brings the movie to life.Not a Bad Movie Overall.
And you may see, I disregarded all the factors just to boast on the Art Side of the film.
Props to the people who made this up, these are just my comments so please "don't angry with me" (kidding aside).
I'm hoping to see more kinds of this movie in the future aside from typical Marvel/DC Visually-packed Effects.
Cheers'!
A daring attempt by filipino film makers.
As an animator myself i definitely appreciated this film.
A lot of people would like to criticize the animation because it's not within pixar or Disney standards.
You have to understand that this was made under a very low budget and apparently only 5 animators which is an impressive achievement compared to the hundreds of animators in Disney/pixar that get big money from Moana, Star Wars, at yang walang sawang Cars.Anyway, The big part of this movie that disappointed me was the story.
When they said 'a typical love story', I didn't expect it to actually be just a typical love story.
I've seen this story a hundred times in pinoy soap operas.If it's your first time to see a love triangle then you might get a kick our of this.
Nevertheless, I still believe that this is a must watch for every pinoy especially for fellow animators.
This is definitely a remarkable achievement in pinoy film making.
A hope for more local animated films in the future.
As a fan of animated films, I am happy that Saving Sally made it into this year's Metro Manila Film Festival.
"Finally!
Something that will represent the animation field," was my first thought.
And after previewing its trailer, it made me want to see the full film.Personally, I think the film was okay --okay in a way that nothing did surprise me about the story itself though it can be unpredictable in some parts.
There was a story that the audience can follow through which is good for entertainment but lacks depth at the same time.
Symbolism was evident in the film partnered with some visually yet subtle puns but I did not get any deep "hugot" from it.
Not referring to punchlines though, but a meaning which the audience will not derive from the screen but from their realization because of the story's essence.
I was looking and hoping for this until the end but unfortunately did not get any.
In addition, I also have some concerns about the language preference.
Personally, I think the movie's message would have been conveyed better if the writers have chosen Filipino as the characters' language considering that they have already used it as well in some parts of the film.
Why not retain the consistency?
Though I'm pretty sure that the writers have some reasons for such preference.
Technical point of view, I couldn't skip, of course, to mention the cinematography, editing and the props department of the film.
I do think that the filmmakers did a good job in these facets.
Nonetheless, with regards to the film's visuals, I personally think that there are better shots that may have been used to create more compelling scenes in some parts of the movie but the ones presented were not that bad either.
Overall, I appreciate Saving Sally most especially the animation throughout the entire film considering the difficulty in putting something like this as a whole.
As a matter of fact, I perceive Saving Sally as a symbol of hope of the country's future animated films.
I do really hope that this will initiate more locally-made animated films in the future..
All is fair in the name of Love and Art. The first time I heard about the film, I thought about the title-- because titles would often give me the clue about what the story is all about.
I couldn't think about the plot because it was vague but regardless, it made me all the while curious.
So, I dragged my friend with me and we took chances to watch.
There we were watching the trailers until the movie began to roll...Incidentally, I was also a fan of Scott-Pilgrim (the movie) because, I haven't read the comics yet, and so I didn't feel odd or awkward with watching the film itself.
The story was in it's own way, brutally honest and close to home.
I've been reading more about the making of this film since I watched and I must say, I think am glad I took the time to do so.
I could appreciate it even more now-- honestly, I love the hard work and dedication that everyone did for Saving Sally, the original Metro Manila slash Philippine Metropolis touch really made all the difference.
I'm hoping that this wouldn't be just the first but, hopefully be one of the igniting 2D animations in the Philippine Animation Film Industry.
My one take thou, is that I hope there were more original sound tracks or OST that could have tug further aside from the visuals but, hey for a budget-close and 10 years in the making film.
I say, this deserves a wonderful 10!
good job guys!