Don't waste your time and money on this movie. Poor story, poor acting and worse lines. If ever, the whole movie would fit in a 15 minute short film. The lead actor is absolutely NOT credible as a writer of any kind. And even though his role is supposed to be that of a writer who has doubts about himself, the way to portray it, his body language and his words don't make sense. This movie will take you nowhere, and it can't even reflect properly on the topic of "lives stranded in nowhere lands", as I guess, based on their stars childish lines, is the attempted topic. With such a plethora of amazing artworks in Filipino cinema nowadays, it's better to use your time to watch something else.
2 Reviews
Reminds you of Lost in Translation
richarddillomes7 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was already declared the winner of this year's CineFilipino film before I saw it and going in my expectations were set - and save for a few minor things, it delivered and can defend itself if questioned with a Quo Warranto.
What happens when two very different characters in the middle of a journey both are hesitating to be in meet in a South Korean airport: Andres (TJ Trinidad), a pessimistic self-help author who doesn't want to go home yet to his life back in Manila and Sam (Yeng Constantino), a free spirit with a 7-year Communications degree who doesn't want to meet her Korean father yet years after he abandoned her.
They kill time in the airport doing mundane activities together and having intellectual conversations you wish you were having while downing a bottle of beer or two, trying to delay the inevitable down to the last minute until the linearity of time forces them to go where they were supposed to more than 12 hours after.
If you've already seen 'Lost In Translation' starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, that's where your hesitation might come from to declare this as the best picture this year. Coupled with other "Finding-yourself-movies" like 'That Thing Called Tadhana' and 'All Of You', the concept may start wearing thin and repetitive. And this is not lost on the writer, making Andres say: "Why can't we just accept that travelling doesn't magically fix any problems?"
While there are times the movie comes off as pretentious, there were powerful moments that will make you reflect on your life such as would you rather be tired than scared (said by the Millenial who has barely scratched the surface of what life has in store for her) or be scared than tired (said by the middle-aged guy who has already gone through some tough times and would be grateful to feel anything aside from being too tired to participate in life.) For those obsessed with the generation gap (Millenials vs Gen X, etc), that scene should remind us not to trivialize what the other is going through, instead acknowledge we're treading the same path on different timelines.
Lastly, surprisingly I liked the ambiguity of whether they liked each other or not. At first I was annoyed because that's how these type of movies go, right? And how can you not like someone who looks like TJ Trinidad and is an intellect at the same time? In hindsight though, there is the generation gap, and as Sam said Andres was too angsty for a self-help author. It was a nice touch that an ordinary looking girl passes up on the Tisoy for once.
What happens when two very different characters in the middle of a journey both are hesitating to be in meet in a South Korean airport: Andres (TJ Trinidad), a pessimistic self-help author who doesn't want to go home yet to his life back in Manila and Sam (Yeng Constantino), a free spirit with a 7-year Communications degree who doesn't want to meet her Korean father yet years after he abandoned her.
They kill time in the airport doing mundane activities together and having intellectual conversations you wish you were having while downing a bottle of beer or two, trying to delay the inevitable down to the last minute until the linearity of time forces them to go where they were supposed to more than 12 hours after.
If you've already seen 'Lost In Translation' starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, that's where your hesitation might come from to declare this as the best picture this year. Coupled with other "Finding-yourself-movies" like 'That Thing Called Tadhana' and 'All Of You', the concept may start wearing thin and repetitive. And this is not lost on the writer, making Andres say: "Why can't we just accept that travelling doesn't magically fix any problems?"
While there are times the movie comes off as pretentious, there were powerful moments that will make you reflect on your life such as would you rather be tired than scared (said by the Millenial who has barely scratched the surface of what life has in store for her) or be scared than tired (said by the middle-aged guy who has already gone through some tough times and would be grateful to feel anything aside from being too tired to participate in life.) For those obsessed with the generation gap (Millenials vs Gen X, etc), that scene should remind us not to trivialize what the other is going through, instead acknowledge we're treading the same path on different timelines.
Lastly, surprisingly I liked the ambiguity of whether they liked each other or not. At first I was annoyed because that's how these type of movies go, right? And how can you not like someone who looks like TJ Trinidad and is an intellect at the same time? In hindsight though, there is the generation gap, and as Sam said Andres was too angsty for a self-help author. It was a nice touch that an ordinary looking girl passes up on the Tisoy for once.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
