Love You to the Stars and Back (2017)

I came across this movie by chance last year. It left me speechless. This movie really changed something about me as a person.

On the surface, it may seem as though this is another,  regular teen movie, but I want to try to convince you that it is so much MORE.
This film had me in tears at how incredibly moving and how stunningly beautiful it was and then again in tears of laughter at the pet chicken the lead characters decided to adopt. This film definitely stands out amongst other big studio Filipino films in it's indie-like feel. The heart that this film has is palpable and the extended conversations between Caloy and Mika let us delve deeper into their head-space and the complicated thoughts and emotions that they are trying to deal with.  Its a film that feels real and deals with things that so many of us are going through or have had to go through at some point in our lives.

This film is beautiful, hilarious, inspiring and very well made and I really can't recommend it enough !

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• S T O R Y: This movie is about the girl protagonist named Mika that wants to get caught by aliens. She is living with her father and stepmother because her mom died. One morning on her way of getting self-lost, she met the boy protagonist named Caloy who she found dumping poo around the corner. This boy came from a middle-class family and he has a cancer (Leukemia). Mika crossed Caloy's leg while driving for escape but she felt pity for Caloy so she helped him in the end and the story goes on.

• A C T I N G | A N D | C A S T: The cast was expected to be match made-in-heaven. This is the disgusting truth about Filipino Showbiz industry. You can't be partnered in other love teams yet you should stick with the person you went through from day 1 unlike in Thailand, they mix-match their actors and actresses for discoveries. Acting of Julia Baretto in this movie is better than every movie she did before. Well for Joshua Garcia, it's a quite so-so because of the crying scenes and whenever he pull off a joke. Crying scenes we're too mature to watch where it's like I'm watching a heavy lakorn instead of watching a light-weighted teen movie, and I said that because HE IS PARTNERED WITH JULIA BARETTO! Pulling off-joke scenes are not natural, it's like not that forced but it's quite a cringe for me. I'm not saying Joshua Garcia isn't a good actor, but some parts really lacks, but overall he did a job well done and he deserve all the awards.

• MUSIC: The OST is good because Moira dela Torre made a new rendition of Torete by Moonstar88 and that version was hell good! Moreover, I don't know any more music (are there more?).

• REWATCH VALUE: This is not that award-winning film-type of movie but it is quite good to rewatch. Good for relaxation and a quite romantic excitement.

• OVERALL: The movie deserves to be watched by other people around the globe. It's time for Filipino movies appreciation.

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comfort movie

The movie that made me obsessed with Julia Barreto and Joshua Garcia's pairing (Joshlia). From time to time, I'd always go back to this film whenever I'm in my feels - 'Love you to the stars and back' is definitely one of my all time favorite Filipino movies. It has the right amount of Romance and Comedy, the drama scenes are heartbreaking and will really give you chills. I dare to say this is Joshlia's all time best project.

The movie in general just heals the soul and makes you realize a ton of things, I've lost count of how many times I've re-watched this masterpiece and how much i cried my heart out. This film is really beautifully made and will take you on a roller coaster of emotions along the way.

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What a difference a day makes...

This movie starts off a bit meeh, with some questionable slightly low humour, meeh quality, meeh characters... yep meeh indeed.

But then comes the male lead, who is charming, fun, oddly relatable and that actually takes medicine for his illness and has bruises, symptoms, and though he does have some mood swings his decisions, worries, and reactions make a lot of sense. He also has a lovely sense of humour which is obviously his way of dealing with his illness.

The female lead was annoying at first but she grew on me, she is a bit impulsive, but also fun and her chemistry with the male lead is pretty decent.

There are perts that seem can seem to glorify suicide and death by renaming it being taken by aliens, and though I do think they take the subject a bit to lightly, they do shed light on som pretty big problems in society, and deal with loss, pain, loneliness, guilt of being a burden on your family and even squeeze in a crappy biological father.

Though the filming and well everything in the begging was bit meeh, the scenery and situations towards the end were really pretty, and though I did have to turn off my brain at times I did end up actually wanted to see more of these two.

P.s. I even shed a tear or two in this, so they managed to get to me though the meeh

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