User Reviews

I really wanted to like this film. Ever since I stumbled upon the music video for the theme song 'Walang Hanggan' on YouTube, I was really hyped for this. The trailer also gave it a somber yet exciting feel of a budding romance. Good stuff.

Enter the movie itself.

First the positives, Ang Kwento Nating Dalawa has very good cinematography, it made the dirty streets of Metro Manila look clean and ideal. The various establishing shots sets up the tone of the movie well. The multitude of locations chosen work and they give a good representation of both the upper and lower echelon of society in the Philippines.

There are 3 very powerful scenes in the movie, they not only unravel the plot but give the viewer a legitimate emotional tug that literally pulls the heartstrings and makes you think and re-think the previous events of the movie.

The soundtrack is excellent, I recommend you give it another listen on other platforms, they weren't featured much in the film.

Luke, is easily the best character in the movie. Working as the comic relief as well as the foil to the main character.

But sadly, these don't save the film. To begin with, it took around 30 minutes before the movie started to become interesting and even then the good parts were few and far in between.

The long take was used excessively here, at one point I even thought they were trying to emulate the movie Birdman. I'm a fan of the long take, but if used too often it loses its luster and it retroactively numbs down the impact of the scenes which benefited from it.

The female lead, Emanuelle Vera, was indeed very beautiful but I can't help but think she was terribly miscast for the role. Her talking parts takes you out of the scene and makes it hard to suspend disbelief. The fact that she didn't have much chemistry with the male lead didn't help at all. I understand that it was explained eventually in the movie why she spoke that way and all, but I think it's more of a workaround rather than a legitimate plot choice.

While the ending is very powerful, it seems that everything leading up to that point was intentionally dumb-ed down in order to make it work. It then makes you question character motivation and the logistics of it all.

Lastly, where the f--- is Frank?

The movie would've been an excellent short film, if this was cut into a 30 minute version, it would've worked to its advantage because all the fat would be cut but it could still maintain its emotional core. Overall, the song Walang Hanggan represents the entirety of the movie, a bittersweet experience that takes too long and whose shots never seem to end.

A great one for an independent film.

It doesn't ask you to be on their side, it just shows that what we see as normal relationships are really complicated.

The ending gives you a better understanding on how complicated it really is and on why the characters are not meant to have a high level of onscreen chemistry.