There was a point in my life when I had been hugely fixated with the Scottish Actor, Ewan Mcgregor.  Well, I still have a crush on the dude, but back in my high school years, I was just obsessed. 

Don’t ask me why; I don’t know either.  I’m guessing it’s the boyish charm and the disarming smile that got to me.  And the accent’s not terrible either.  I first saw him with Nicole Kidman on Moulin Rouge when I was fourteen years old and just brushed off the movie as one of those sappy love stories that I vowed to hate. 

A year later someone gave me a copy of Moulin Rouge and I saw it in a different light, quite literally.  The songs got to me, Baz Luhrman’s directing struck a nerve and at the last scene of the movie, as loath am I to admit it, I was crying.  It quickly became my movie of choice whenever I had time enough to squeeze in a flick in my schedule.  I kid you not when I say that I might have seen it about seventy times in one school year.

Arguably, one could say that I was infatuated with his character, Christian, the penniless writer.  I guess that’s a valid theory; there is something very sexy with an impoverished but passionate young artist, especially one that sings and looks like Ewan Mcgregor.  I tried to watch as many films of him as I could—I saw Trainspotting, Star Wars, A Life Less Ordinary, Eye of the Beholder (I even read the danged book). 

So when I heard that he had a movie with Renee Zellweger, I knew that I had to see it.  But because of my strict schedule back in high school (classes ended at four o’clock and I had to be in Makati by five to catch a ride home with my parents), the chance of my seeing the film was pretty much bleak.  I wasn’t allowed to go out on weekends mainly because we had family gatherings, but secondly because I didn’t really know how to commute from Manila to Laguna.  I contented myself with buying the book version of Down with Love, consoling myself with the thought that I’d buy a copy of the movie once it hits the stores. 

But wouldn’t you know it, one day there was an impromptu rally by the jeepney drivers for a fare hike so we were let off early from school.  I was determined to see the movie, even jut by myself, if I had to, but fortunately, a few friends (Buen, Mon-Mon, Agnes, Chen and Diane) were willing to see it with me.  I guess their interests were piqued by my non-stop babbling of the movie that they decided to see it as well. 

Unfortunately, because the jeepney drivers were off rallying somewhere, our main form of transportation to SM Manila was gone.  There were too many of us for a cab and we couldn’t walk there so we decided to take the LRT until Central Station.  Apparently that’s what everybody else was thinking of, because the trains were jam-packed.  I kid you not when I say that for the duration of those three train stations, I didn’t even have to hold onto anything; I was kept upright by the shoulders and torsos of other people. 

But, we got there fine, we saw the movie and then I had to leave early, on my mother’s orders.  It was very fun and I was walking on air for the rest of the month.  It was an experience I’ll never forget and one of the reasons (the ten other reasons are Ewan Mcgregor) why I smile whenever I watch Down with Love.