Review of LASTING MOMENTS: Forgetting to Feel

August 12, 2025

Aki Orteza (JM de Guzman) and Sophia "Pia" Suarez (Sue Ramirez) are very much in love and have been living together for some time now. Aki worked as a teacher of Philippine history, while Pia worked as a marketing executive under her boss Carlo (Victor Silayan.) Aki and Pia are saving up for their upcoming wedding next year, followed by a honeymoon in Singapore. They have also started to make payments on their dream house.

One day, Aki was made to realize that he had been missing a lot of his classes. He had also been forgetting a lot of important dates, prior commitments, and pending bills. These issues soon made Pia feel very stressed and unhappy. On the day that Pia was promoted to senior account manager, Aki was fired from his job because of his irresponsible lapses. Carlo's offer of a job position in Singapore had now become very tempting to Pia. 

Many Filipino films released on Wednesdays do not even reach the weekend anymore and get pulled out prematurely. However, starting with "Sunshine" on July 23, the three local films released July 30 -- "How to Get Away from My Toxic Family," "P77" and "Lasting Moments" -- all made to a second week. Of these three, "Lasting Moments" picked up the most momentum, even doing better than the releases of August 6 -- "Meg & Ryan" and "Lola Barang."  

"Lasting Moments" is a weepy melodrama with a capital M (and apparently this is what Filipino moviegoing audiences want?) The problem with Aki seemed pretty obvious already early on. However, writer-director Fifth Solomon chose to stretch out the length of the drama to its bursting limit. The second hour felt interminable in its repetitiveness. Also we really did not need to be spoonfed a montage of everything Aki had been forgetting in the first half. 

The lead actors were very committed to their flawed characters, making their love feel so genuine so that their separation felt so painful. JM de Guzman portrayed the confusion of Aki well, but his sudden outbursts can get very jarring. Julianne Moore's more controlled Oscar-winning portrayal of this condition in "Still Alice" (2014) was more sympathetic.  Sue Ramirez once again proved here that any character of hers is likable by virtue of her winsome screen presence and acting versatility. Pia may have been too self-absorbed not to recognize Aki's real problem early on, but because she was played by Sue Ramirez, we forgive her. 6/10