Film Review: Love You to the Stars and Back
It doesn’t matter if your love life is in good terms or not. It doesn’t matter if your love life exists or not. Love You to the Stars and Back is already on my list of the best romantic films I have ever watched.
First and foremost- I won’t be spoiling what exactly happened in the movie. That will be unforgivable for the people who are yet to watch or who are still thinking if they will watch, or to the people behind the film that poured their souls out just to present an excellent work. I’m just going to share the things that made me love this film, since you only have around two weeks left to watch it at the cinemas.
Before entering the cinema, I thought it will be a light movie that I will enjoy for about one to two hours. But this film took my heart from my chest and played with it like a puppeteer. Coming from a person who isn’t easily swayed by eye-catching advertisements or bandwagon, this movie proved its worthiness to be praised. And I would have to admit: when the trailer said something about aliens, it didn’t leave a good impression in me. A huge part of it is because aliens do not interest me that much as arts or economics. What caught my eye was the playfulness of the trailer: it was lively and thrilling at the same time. It didn’t give much away too- only that the lead female character wishes to find aliens and the lead male character has cancer. But as the film progressed in front of my eyes, I couldn’t help but think: “Siguro nga, walang imposible sa mundo. Kailangan mo lang talaga maniwala.” (Perhaps nothing is impossible in this world. You just really have to believe.) And it’s not because the film made me believe in aliens- but because it made me believe that life holds great potential, that something good is about to happen. And I just have to believe in that.
There are numerous reasons why this movie is exemplary. A pleasing characteristic, the script was friendly to the audience- not too deep to understand and not too light to undervalue. You also hang on to the next lines after an actor gave one out. Perhaps a huge part of it is because of the actors’ effectiveness in delivering the lines. It’s my first time watch Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto together for a film and I can say that both of their performances were outstanding. The chemistry between the two was also highly palpable. There were scenes that asked to be casual, while some involved giving out gallons of tears. Some scenes required them to laugh while some made them feel every ounce of anger and sympathy that they have in their hearts. Most of the conversations focused on them and their relationships with their families and through all of them, you get the feeling that Mika and Caloy are just like us- normal people dealing with challenges that life chooses to throw at us. Their acting skills weren’t forced or unnatural- the opposite actually, they were very into the character that you will forget that this is Julia or this is Joshua portraying a character that may be very different from the off-screen versions of them.
As a person born in the year 2000, I can say that this film is for all ages. Yup, even for the elderly, because maybe then you will understand why teenagers act this way. And yup, we also have our reasons. The youth can also relate to the phases of life that the characters are going through. This film is highly recommended, so I hope you can watch it at the cinemas. When I got out of the theater, I also wanted to say, “Pahingi naman ng yakap o’.” I hope you also get to hug someone right after. You’re going to need it. Oh, and bring tissues too. I was crying already at the middle of the film. I hope you will enjoy watching and I hope you will realize that it is worth it to love someone, to love living and to love life, to the stars and back.
Love always,
Bern
Questions? Corrections? Comments? Feel free to send me a message through my e-mail: bernminatarnate@gmail.com. (Or message me through any of my social media accounts!) I'd love to hear from you!