By Matt Dy
Delia & Sammy might as well be called Crazy Rich Asians. The titular characters, though nowhere near as affluent as those Asians, certainly make up for that with plenty of Crazy. Delia is an aging, once-famous actress still performing her most tragic role of wife to Sammy, her philandering, Alzheimer’s-ridden husband who barely remembers her. They are just as isolated from each other and everyone around them like the archipelago that is their homeland of the Philippine Islands. In addition, they are not the upstanding, wise, and model elderly Asians you’d expect to welcome you in their home and offer you a warm plate of pancit and lumpia (Filipino noodles and egg rolls for the uninitiated!). Both have a history of manipulating friends and family, which catches up to them in karmic ways when Delia discovers she is dying of cancer and needs to figure out what to do with Sammy before her times up. With the help of a kind security guard, the couple venture on a literal “road to redemption” in an old Mercedes Benz to the distant city of Baguio to reunite Sammy with his deeply hurt and estranged family. Delia & Sammy is a refreshingly real, funny, tragic, and cathartic film told in a setting not explored nearly enough. And, in the age of Crazy Rich Asians, it’s time to bring on the crazy real Filipinos.