December 17, 2025
One day, a solar flare shot out from the sun and hit Earth resulting in a loss of internet connection all over the world. As would be expected, since practically every human activity was now connected and dependent on a great degree to the internet, everybody's daily routines were all thrown into a big mess by the shutdown of the world wide web. Without the option of virtual meetings and streaming entertainment, people were now compelled to interact face to face.
Wes (Gerald Anderson) worked in IT with Bennie (Raf Pineda) and Markus (Dom Corilla). He just sent his wife Kate (Charlie Dizon) an email but was not sure if it went through. The family vlog of Bridget (Carmina Villaroel) and Jordan (Zoren Legaspi) and their twins Eve (Cassy Legaspi) and Derrick (Mavy Legaspi) was put on hold. The planned meet-up of musician Jasper (Kokoy de Santos) and his fan Cheska (Angel Guardian) was deferred.
OFWs in Bangkok Trisha (Bela Padilla) and Gigi (Andrea Brillantes) were planning to go home for the Christmas holidays, but their flights were cancelled, so they had to find another way home. Artist Onyx (Kelvin Miranda) was falsely arrested as a murder suspect, but there was no way to contact his family. Paula (Alexa Miro) used to run a number of online scams from catfishing women or defrauding merchants, but the shutdown made her rethink her ways.
However, there was one woman in Batangas who did not seem to mind the loss of the internet. This was the elderly widow Cory (Gloria Diaz), who lived without family, only with her helper Peks (Donna Cariaga). She steadfastly stuck to the old ways of doing thing, resisting the use of any modern gadgets, so she had a landline, encyclopedias and cold cash. However, she was known among her neighbors as a grumpy old lady who did not like people bothering her.
The screenplay was a complex interweaving of multiple stories written by writers Jericho Aguado ("Third World Romance," "Gospel of the Beast") and Leovic Arceta ("A Girl and a Guy," "Rabid"), with Kat Naval. This is director Jade Castro's first film since "LSS" (2019), and he clearly never lost control in telling this web of disparate stories of seemingly unrelated people, and came up with something so engaging, bittersweet and heartwarming. If there was a weakness in this, it would be that scene on how the internet ecosystem was restored.
All the actors understood their assignments, they worked as an ensemble. They kept everything light in tone, yet also knew how to tug at our heartstrings in tear-jerking moments. Ms. Diaz stood out with her delightfully deadpan delivery of her funny lines that had me laughing out loud in glee. This film proudly declared itself the only Christmas movie for this year's MMFF. I have a feeling this, like its inspiration "Love Actually" (2003), may become a classic Christmas movie for Filipinos to enjoy for the years to come as well. 8/10
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