Movie No. 50 (2018): THE DAY AFTER VALENTINE'S

The Day After Valentine's (2018)
Director: Jason Paul Laxamana
Cast: Bela Padilla, JC Santos
In Tagalog, with English subtitles

The movie is not without faults. I like it anyway. I like how it starts. I can understand how it ends. The two lead actors don't have the chemistry to be paired in a romance movie. But, this is not a romance movie. It's almost a love story, but not quite. Seeing the first 10 to 20 minutes of the movie, I predicted no happy ending. I could understand how it ended.

Bela Padilla (Lani) and JC Santos (Kai) are both good in their assigned roles. It's easy to understand the pain or brokenness they nurse. While I believe that a truly original story is non-existent, I find some form of novelty in this movie. It's not the fascination with Baybayin. On the contrary, I believe that it doesn't make any difference if interest in Baybayin is scrapped as part of the characterization of Kai and Lani.

The movie is also plagued other lapses. How can Lani get a US Visa so quickly? Maybe, she's a green card holder. Her father is a foreigner, probably American. Does Lani earn enough from tutoring and as help in a second-hand clothing store to fund her trip to Hawaii? Maybe, it's been a while she's doing these, long enough to have saved.

The movie is not without faults. I like it anyway. It succeeds in what it wants to convey to the audience. 

"The Day After Valentine's" is competing in the 2018 Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino. On Sunday, August 26, 2018, The Day After Valentine's was declared to have won Audience Award.

Rating: 3.0/4.0

Date seen: August 17, 2018