April 15, 2023
Movie writer Ikay (Eisel Serrano) had written a script with a romance story which she wanted to tell a specific way. However, her producer was demanding rewrites but she could not seem to compromise. To clear her mind, she decided to drive up to Baguio City to resume her writing at the house of her free- spirited aunt Tita Menchu (Ana Abad Santos). Among her old stuff, her aunt had a long-unused two-way radio unit which suddenly began to sputter to life.
Uly (Carlo Aquino) was an young man who lived in Atok, Benguet who would rather stay in his house and try to repair old gadgets than go out. One day, he was able to make an old two-way radio unit to work and tried to call out to anyone who would answer him. One night, Ikay answered his call and after her initial hesitation, they got to talking and got along. However, every time they try to meet up at a specific place, they do not see each other.
Director JP Habac had already told us thoughtful romance stories in the past in films like "I'm Drunk, I Love You" (2017), "Sakaling Maging Tayo" (2019), and "Here and There" (2021). This time he took on a script written by Gena Tejana which seemed to be inspired by Korean film "Il Mare" (2000) which had already been remade in Hollywood as "The Lake House" (2006), with a push-to-talk phone connecting the two protagonists instead of a magic mailbox.
In his recent romantic films, Carlo Aquino had been paired with leading ladies of all ages -- Bela Padilla in "Meet Me in St. Gallen" (2017), Angelica Panganiban in "Exes Baggage" (2018), Nadine Lustre in "Ulan" (2019), Maine Mendoza in "Isa Pa with Feelings" (2019), Julia Barretto in "Expensive Candy" (2022) and Barbie Imperial in "I Love Lizzy" (2023). Aquino may be 37 now, but with his ageless boyish charm and veteran acting skills, he was still able to create sweet romantic chemistry with a 24-year old leading lady.
Eisel Serrano started her career in 2019 alongside Charlie Dizon and Belle Mariano who had already made names for themselves earlier on. Like her two Star Magic batchmates, Serrano also had a bubbly personality and strong screen presence, aside from her pretty face. She confidently held her own alongside Aquino, as well as her theater actresses Ana Abad Santos and Meann Espinosa (as comic relief sidekick Sis Bituin).
As dictated by the story's premise, the interactions between Ikay and Uly had been effectively shown via side by side split screens. The big twist reveal set at the gazebo of picturesque Wright Park was very well-executed. Towards the end when fantasy and reality merge, the flow of things did admittedly get a little confusing. These scenes may need some post-viewing reflecting to try and piece the story together logically. 7/10.
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