"Love You to the Stars and Back" (2017) Movie Review

Julia Barretto & Joshua Garcia stars in "Love You To The Stars And Back"

I've been a fan of Antoinette Jadaone since 2014 after seeing her romantic coming-of-age film Relaks, It's Just Pag-ibig (twice). The independent feature, starring newcomers Inigo Pascual, Sofia Andres, and Julian Estrada, is one of the best local romance films I've seen and is still one of my favorite. I'm also a fan of That Thing Called Tadhana starring Angelica Panganiban and JM De Guzman, but Relaks will always have a special place in my heart. This year, Jadaone is back in another romantic coming-of-age story, but featuring well-known actors and with support from a major film company, Star Cinema. Fresh from the success of their critically-acclaimed box-office MMFF hit Vince and Kath and James (2016), Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia returns to the big screen in Antoinette Jadaone's Love you to the Stars and Back (2017).

Feeling out place in her own home, an eccentric and socially awkward girl, Mika (Julia Barretto), decides to go on a road trip with a very strange goal – to look for aliens. In her trip, Mika accidentally bumps into a simple and good-humored boy, Caloy (Joshua Garcia), whom she chooses to give a free ride to until he reaches his destination. Mika is surprised to know that Caloy has cancer. But despite his condition, he has learned to accept his fate and remained positive and joyful. The two embark on a roadtrip filled with adventures and misadventures, not knowing that it will lead them to experiencing their most memorable romance at such a young age. They unexpectedly teach each other an important lesson on love and life – one that takes most people a lifetime to learn. [Star Cinema]

We've seen a lot of romance films tackle disease-stricken protagonists before, from the colorful musical like Moulin Rouge! (2001), the gut-wrenching classic A Walk to Remember (2002) and the latest young adult fiction The Fault In Our Stars (2014). In her latest film, Antoinette Jadaone uses this cliched and overtly used stroyline to make one of the year's best local films, period. Though the idea of having one character having cancer is an integral part of the storyline, director/ writer Jadaone don't overuse it to the point that it's being slapped in your face. Instead, she uses this as a way to bring the story and it's characters together in an emotional journey, literally and figuratively. The film is like a re-imagining of her film Relaks, It's Just Pag-ibig and That Thing Called Tadhana. Both films focus on two characters travelling together and slowly falling for each other. But this film has more resemblance to Relaks because it's characters are both young people (below/ early their 20's). Also, both Relaks and LYSB follow it's main characters as they wander to different places, gets involved in other people's lives and learn new things.

Both Mika and Caloy are both well-developed characters. We get some background of each character's lives before they meet each other in a short span of time, giving us enough information to get to know them. Then, as the film progresses, we get to dig deeper into their personal lives and what each of them are going through. Although it does need a bit of suspension of disbelief before you can fully commit to the idea of a character trying to get taken away by aliens. But once you get past that, you are in for one hell of a roadtrip. Director Antoinette Jadaone's script is witty and humorous. On top of that, her direction of the material is also adept. She really excels in eliciting laughs from the audiences. And she's also really good when it comes to making people cry a river inside the cinemas.

Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia shines once again in this movie which serves as their reunion project, being this their second movie together. Julia Barretto is so amazing in her portrayal of Mika. Aside from being a pretty face, she proved to everyone that she can act in last year's Vince and Kath and James. And now, she's done it again. You can really feel her character's pain through her eyes, and we can't help but sympathize with her. Joshua Garcia is a total revelation in VKJ and he continues to wow us in this movie. The way he throws his lines were so raw and it felt to real to me. The camera loves him. The way he smiles will surely send shivers down your spine but once he cries, you'll be melting with pity. He has this adorable and irresistible charm similar to John Lloyd Cruz, no wonder he's being compared to him by critics and audiences alike. One of my most favorite scene was this part when he tried to reconnect to his estranged father, only to be driven away and rejected. His monologue scene at his dad's house was just so heart-wrenching and painful to watch that I couldn't stop myself from crying.

Also, Julia and Joshua has really great chemistry and director Jadaone was able to squeeze all that oozing sweetness between the two onscreen. I remember this scene (which was featured in the trailer) where Mika was holding a chicken in her hand and she tells it that it's mommy and daddy's here. That scene was one of the most sweetest and nakakakilig moments in a local film I've seen this year. I can't contain the kilig I was feeling while watching this film that there were a lot of instances that I was already shrieking with joy along with the other audiences inside the cinema.

The film's cinematography and musical design was also really beneficial to the overall look and feel of the film. The film features a lot of beautiful locations and gets a lot out of these places to make the film more appealing to travelers among the audience. Though I must take note of the shaky camera shots in the film. Some of the scenes really looked good, but there were a lot of instances that the shaking camera shots were a bit distracting. This was evident in the screening where I watched the film because I kept on hearing some of the audience member's whisper that the shakiness of the shots were nauseating. The film features the Moonstar88 2000 song Torete (in a cover by Moira Dela Torre) as it's main official soundtrack and it used the film to it's maximum effect. When the film has finally ended and the credits were already rolling, I can help but sing along to the song during the end credits.

Antoinette Jadaone's Love you to the Stars and Back (2017) is one amazing romantic coming-of-age movie that reminds us of her great skills as a director and writer, and also serves as a proof that the JoshLia (Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto) tandem is a loveteam to watch out for. It's a movie that is full of laughter and pain, oozing with kilig and tears. It's something that shouldn't be missed.




Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ of 5

"Love You To The Stars And Back" (2017)

Directed by Antoinette Jadaone, starring Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia

Can't Help Falling In Love movie review

Destiny plays a big part in every great love story. And it does too in almost every Filipino romance film that we see every now and then. It is that one cliche that people seems to never get really tired of. After all, we Filipinos are all hopeless romantics. And destiny plays a big role in the story of this latest offering from Star Cinema, featuring today's hottest love team, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla.

Can't Help Falling In Love follows how fate will bring together two strangers, named Gab (Kathryn Bernardo) and Dos (Daniel Padilla), who accidentally got married. Gab is the typical perfect girl who's always focusing on achieving her goals, particularly in her career. She has been in a relationship with her longtime boyfriend Jason (Matteo Guidicelli) for six years, until  he propose marriage to her which she immediately accepted. But soon after this, she receives a letter in the mail containing her certificate of marriage with a total stranger. Unsure of how she got married and confused with what to do about it, she tracks down her husband, Dos (Daniel Padilla), a happy go lucky guy and her total opposite. Together, they try to recall how the two of them got married and find a way to get divorced without Gab's boyfriend knowing about it.

This is director Mae Cruz-Alviar's second full length feature film with Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla after their 2015 box-office hit Crazy, Beautiful You. Mae Cruz-Alviar has been one of the most promising directors of this generation. I personally loved her previous works, with Crazy, Beautiful You and Everyday, I Love You (Starring Liza Soberano, Enrique Gil & Gerald Anderson) being my top favorites. The good thing about director Mae Cruz-Alviar is that she knows how to handle her actors and actresses well. She knows how to bring them together on screen and squeeze out all the juice she could get to create those kilig-filled moments. She knows when to make the audience laugh and when to make them feel the kilig. In short, she knows how to make a good romance film. And that's what makes this film work so well. This is Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla's eight film together and after being partnered on screen for almost six years now, it is undeniable that the two have already been so close to each other. They look good together, and there is an overflowing chemistry between the two when they're on screen (and even off screen). And director Mae Cruz Alviar uses this in the film's advantage. The film is packed with scenes that would make the audiences blush and feel giddy with kilig. Audiences paid to see a good romance film, and they get exactly what they were looking for.

The film features a really strong cast. Matteo Guidicelli was okay as the story's third party, although his character isn't given much background and remained one dimensional from start to finish. His only purpose was to act as a hindrance to the main characters from being together and nothing more. You don't even feel any sympathy towards him, unlike Gerald Anderson's character Tristan in Mae Cruz-Alviar's Everyday, I Love You. It was also refreshing to see Cherry Pie Picache in the film as I haven't seen her in very long time on screen. Lotlot de Leon and Dennis Padilla were also great additions to the cast as Dos' adopted family. Kristel Fulgar was so funny as Gab's bestfriend, a must in every Pinoy romcom. 

But let's all face it, the biggest strength of the film is it's leads. After being in the show business for quite some time now, I must say that Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla have both grown better in terms of their acting skills over the years, aside from the fact that the two of them are oozing with chemistry. Their roles here in Can't Help Falling In Love as Gab and Dos are probably their most mature roles to date. Not only we get to hear them play around with green jokes (yeah, that comfort room scene where we hear Gab say "Ang haba..."), we also get to hear them curse like normal young adults. Their characters are not as deep and serious as their previous roles in Olivia M. Lamasan's Barcelona : A Love Untold (2016) and it worked so well for them. Kathryn and Daniel portrayed Gab and Dos with little to no effort. I guess romcoms really is their forte. Kathryn Bernardo shines in her scenes showing her character struggling to find a resolution to her problem. My favorite scene of her would be the one where Dos left her alone in a fast food restaurant and she ends up in tears because she doesn't know what to do anymore to fix the whole marriage problem she have. For me, Kathryn really stood out in that scene and proved once again that she is one of the most talented actress of her generation. But Daniel Padilla steals the show in his take on his character, Dos. Although a lot of us may find Dos similar to his role as Kiko in Crazy, Beautiful You, his portrayal here is way better. Daniel Padilla has mastered the art of charming his way into every audience's heart. His acting was good, but his humor really made his character more enjoyable to watch. His character's funny quips suited him and his comic timing is perfect in every scene. I remember when I watched the film, the whole theater was laughing out so hard every time he throws in some quick, witty jokes here and there. He's a real charmer. He is today's definition of a heartthrob.

Even though the film follows a weird and unusual story line that's almost impossible to happen in real life, their approach in handling the plot made it somehow believable. It's actually more believable than the story line of Barcelona : A Love Untold. Also, their characters here faces the real life difficulties of marriage and the process of annulment. The film gives people an idea on how hard it is to void marriage in a country that strongly believes that marriage is sacred and cannot be broken. What I loved about the story is that instead of revealing everything right away, the film takes some time to build up some mystery around it, making the audience guess how the two characters ended up marrying each other without them knowing about it. But just like past Star Cinema romcoms, the film eventually falls into the typical romance stereotype once it reaches it's third and final act. But still, the journey that Gab and Dos had was worth the admission price. And we got what we were craving for in a KathNiel movie.

Funny, charming, and overflowing with kilig, this is by far the best KathNiel movie I've seen in the past six years. It's one competently made romcom that will sweep fans and audiences off their feet with it's magic, despite some inevitable cliches. All in all, I just Can't Help Falling In Love with this movie, no pun intended.

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ out of 5

Can't Help Falling In Love (2017)

Starring Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla 

Directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar