Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino : "100 Tula Para Kay Stella" (2017) movie review

Bela Padilla and JC Santos in "100 Tula para kay Stella"

Us Filipinos love a good romance. It is no surprise that the box-office winner of this year's Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino is a teen romantic drama film, Jason Paul Laxamana's 100 Tula Para Kay Stella (2017). As of writing this review, the film has already grossed more than a hundred million pesos at the box-office, making it a certified blockbuster. Produced by Viva Films, it stars JC Santos and Bela Padilla, and follows a love struck poet and his journey as he attempts to tell his true feelings for the love of his life. Ever since I've learned of this project by director Laxamana, I've been looking forward to it since I'm a fan of his works, from his dark comedy Mercury is Mine to the coming-of-age film 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (which he wrote). And long after the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino has ended, I was finally able to catch his latest work.

Screenshots from the trailer

The film starts in 2004, when Fidel Lansangan (JC Santos) and Stella Puno (Bela Padilla) meets each other as freshmen college students in Pampanga pursuing a bachelor's degree in Psychology. They became friends despite difference in their personalities; Fidel is an honor student with a speech impediment and loves poetry while Stella is a rocker with a tough and confident attitude who prefers to jam with her band rather than to do her studies.Fidel begins to write poems to express his love to Stella but does not have the confidence to read these to her. Stella on her had various boyfriends as she pursues her goal of securing a recording contract. The film's story spans for four whole years of Fidel and Stella's college life and revolves around the question whether Fidel can muster enough confidence to read his poems to Stella.

The film is like your normal boy-meets-girl situation, where the love struck boy tries to tell the girl he loves how he really felt for him. But despite the familiar story line, what really makes the film so endearing to watch is it's characters. Fidel's character is so sympathetic and somehow relatable. Setting aside his speech defect (which only limits him to speaking three words at a time, or else he will stutter), everyone of us can really relate to his inferiority complex. I'm pretty sure a lot of people can relate to his dilemma of telling someone his true feelings for them. His character, despite being a work of fiction, feels so real and honest that we are so willing to follow him where ever his decisions in life lead him to, even if it just keeps on giving him more and more heartaches in the process. A lot of people might say that Stella is one badly written character because of the poor choices she made in her life. But I for one have heard a lot of stories about real people committing similar mistakes in their lives. She's the perfect contrast to Fidel, a good boy with a big heart. We have to remember that no one in this world is perfect, and Stella is a reminder of that in this movie. In a world of Fidels, there's always a Stella to balance everything.

The film, despite being a romantic drama, also feels like a coming-of-age story. It follows Fidel and Stella as they grow up, make their own decisions, commit mistakes and learn different lessons in life in the process. It follows two young people, growing up to separate lives which are shaped by their own actions and choices. One grew up and learned how to finally stand up on his own feet; the other falls into one failure after another due to her choice of abandoning school. This makes the film the perfect movie for millennials nowadays. A lot of young people now don't care too much about their actions and decisions in their lives, and later on regrets these things after. The film is a reminder to us that the choices that we make now will affect our future, therefore we should know what to prioritize and what to value in our lives.

Technically wise, the film is one gorgeous picture. It has all the makings of a mainstream romantic film. From it's picturesque cinematography to it's lovely soundtrack, everything is pitch perfect. You can really see Director Laxamana's focus on these details, particularly during the beginning of the film, leading to one of the most beautifully orchestrated opening credit sequences in a local Pinoy film in recent years. The film really gets a lot from it's period setting, during early 2000's. It romps up the nostalgia with songs from this period like Rivermaya's "Balisong" (recorded by The Juans and served as the theme song of the film). Also, the original poetry featured in the film were really romantic and beautiful.

Bela Padilla did a great job in her role as Stella. Despite her character not being the most likable in the film due to her bad choices in life, you can't help but fall for her. After surprising us in the film Camp Sawi (2016), Bela proved her undeniably outstanding acting prowess in this movie. But it is JC Santos who wowed us with his committed performance as Fidel. He plays the role with adorable charm and devotion to his character. It's hard to be consistent in playing a character with a disability but JC is so dedicated in portraying his role that he is believable. The two of them really looks good together and makes a nice pair. Another who deserves praise for her performance in the film is Ana Abad Santos for her role as Ms. Bardozo, Fidel's English teacher. Her character was really affecting, despite having a very limited screen time.

I think the only complain about the film is it's overtly long duration since the film clocks in around two hours and three minutes. But you can forget all that because it's characters (mostly Fidel) were worth investing the time. All in all, Jason Paul Laxamana's 100 Tula Para Kay Stella is a beautifully made love story that will satisfy the hopeless romantics in each one of us.

Rating: ✰✰✰✰½ of 5
100 Tula Para Kay Stella (2017)
Directed by Jason Paul Laxamana,

starring JC Santos and Bela Padilla

***

The "Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino" was a nationwide week-long celebration where all movie theaters exclusively screened Filipino films in line with the Buwan ng Wika. This festive event was organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines in partnership with theaters nationwide and ran from August 16-22, 2017.