How many of us have bad habits? Some of us bite fervently on our nails, some can’t stop shaking our legs under the table. However, as UrbanWire learns from watching Bad Habits, no habit seems to be as dangerous as having bad eating habits; it may even be a matter of life and death.

You can’t blame Linda for wanting to kill her mother. “La prefiero muerta que gorda,” says Elena (Elena de Haro), mother of an overweight Linda, to her friend. This translates, “I’d rather see her dead than fat”. Elena’s final choice of weapon came in the form of stomach stapling. After young Linda hears this news, she fills her mother’s bottle of water with her own medication and waits for news of her death.

Elena does eventually die but the cause of her death, little known to her daughter, was actually her day-to-day psychotic practices of extreme dieting and excessive work-outs – her meal consumption consists of a cube of cheese a day.

This distorted perception of beauty is so rampant yet the society remains so oblivious to it. UrbanWire is delighted how the media is working its magic to try to correct these incorrect perceptions through Bad Habits. After all the celebrity influence (i.e. Olsen sisters becoming thinspiration to young children), Bad Habits comes as a refreshing reminder.

Besides, Elena forces her own beliefs onto her daughter, reflecting how much of an influence a parent can have on a child. The audience is able to relate the expectations of a parent, kind of like how a typical parent wants his or her child to perform exceptionally well in school. Except in the case of too much pressure and compulsion, it becomes negative, to such an extent that Elena loses her husband to a chubbier female student.

Interestingly enough, the brilliant director, Simon Bross, weaves another issue seamlessly into the plot with the invitation of a young nun, Matilde (Ximena Ayala). Similarly, Matilde is a victim of eating disorders. But her reason behind this is religion.

Matilde wills herself to stomach vomit-like food and vinegar as a self-sacrifice. Her intentions are for her God to help with her aunt’s recovery and also for the rain that is causing floods and deaths to stop, and not for her own benefits. However, the price she had to pay was an obsessive rejection of food that landed her in hospital. When she realises that her efforts did not stop the rain from falling, she understands her folly.

The director, Simon Bross, encases the movie in such a powerful manner, a second time since the recent screening of Under The Same Moon. It is amazing how Director Simon Bross can transcend language to bring about this film that highlights real problems of our society.

It is a thought-provoking film and the two stories in the film entwine beautifully. What UrbanWire didn’t like was the repetitive ‘torture methods’ that they used in the stories. Yes, we do know Matilde is going to torture herself by eating disgusting food, and Elena still hates her daughter because Linda is eating that chocolate muffin again. Give us something else.

But overall, Bad Habits proves to be mix between a thriller and a drama with quite unexpected endings. Well, at least it tries. What it reflects about the society is probably why you should go watch this film. Glad for Cathay to be screening this a whole year after it was first released in the United States. Timeless movie.