January 7, 2025
Coming from a home with marital strife, restless nomad Woody (Carlo Aquino) has been moving around city to city all around the world trying to find his "perfect home." If he thought the place was wrong for him, he would spin his trusty globe around and point randomly at any country to choose his next destination. This time, he found himself in a small quiet seaside city on the island of Kyushu, Japan called Karatsu.
At the local market, Woody was attracted to the stall of three Filipino siblings selling fresh squid. The eldest girl was Lynlyn (Julia Barretto), and her brothers were Tantan (Jairus Aquino) and Botbot (Migo Valid). Woody noted Lynlyn behaving weirdly, touching his hand and face. Lynlyn revealed that she had the ability to tell if a stranger was positive or negative for her just be mere touch. She had neutral reaction with Woody.
This is already the second film of writer-director Jason Paul Laxamana to be set in the Saga Prefecture on Kyushu, Japan, both using grants by the film commission there. The first one was "Between Maybes" (2019), starring Julia Barretto and Gerald Anderson. Like he did for Saga previously, Laxamana used the picturesque sights of Karatsu to their full potential, particularly the bright yellow canola fields and the observation deck on Mt. Kagamiyama.
Carlo Aquino's rather careless hair styling and make-up here made him look gaunt in some scenes, betraying the 12-year age-gap between him and Barretto in real life. Romantic chemistry may not have been instant, but luckily, the sincerity of Aquino and Barretto's acting eventually convinced us of their characters' true feelings for each other, over and beyond the alarming warning signals sent by Lynlyn's prophetic touch. However, making Woody resort to alcohol so much did not exactly help making him look more positive.
Laxamana added a touch of the supernatural to explain how Lynlyn got her mysterious ability, but its full mechanics were rather unclear. Suspension of disbelief aside, it does provoke you think critically about possessing such a talent. Is it really good if you can predict your future with a certain person? If you can sense that someone can someday cause you pain, how would you decide to abandoned him if this person is making you feel happy now? But also thought-provoking was why Lynlyn and bros were in Karatsu in the first place. 5/10
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