À travers ma fenêtre : L'amour pour horizon

I absolutely loved Through my Window (A través de mi ventana), so I was super excited to watch the second film based on the book series by Ariana Godoy. I knew it would be a little problematic in that part of what made the first film so good was the great hate to love romance. Here in book/film #2 the couple is together just separated by distance, with Ares studying medicine at a school in Stockholm and Raquel studying literature at home in Barcelona. The conflict came in the form of Ares being adrift, questioning why he is studying medicine at all and really just missing Raquel. Raquel is also spending far too much time on her phone with Ares, but she does have an opportunity to send her manuscript to a publisher. (I really liked that it ended up being Yoshi's legacy.) Ares comes home for a break and whisks Raquel off for a seaside get reacquainted vacation...but his two brothers (Apollo and Artemis) end up crashing the vacation with their various friends.

I didn't enjoy this film nearly as much as the first film...it suffered from the midst of the story as it ends not where fans will want it to end...feeling undone, or as the narrator says broken. I did enjoy some of the sun, sand and sex that I would want in a summer film, but personally I can't wait for the third and final film. Is this a recommendation...yes, I still love the characters of Raquel and Ares and as a romantic, I still find myself rooting for them. I also think you need to see this in order to watch the third film. I wouldn't recommend this as a stand alone film however, you definitely need the context of the first film...even though that could be watched as a stand alone film. I find myself upset with Artemis and wanting to beat him with my shoe, and I am actually feeling sorry for Apollo as he seems to be a good kid...Raquel's friend Daniella probably needs to be hit a few times with a shoe for the way she treats him.

We all know, that the whole story was kinda toxic since the beginning.. but the first film was interesting, exciting, there was stuff happening.. in the second part alas, nothing really happens. The film is long nearly 2 hours and all you will see are lame montages like it's a music video.. i hate when netflix do that.. we don't want to see a music video, we want to be able to relate to the story.. So literally, it was so boring, nothing happens, even their acting was a lot worse than the first film.. the actress lost some weight in this one, but charisma is also missing... I was waiting for this second part for so long and i was so disappointed.. the plot is missing, the ending is depressing and honestly I don't get how it's helping the whole story.. the chemistry between them was so much in the first film, now is literally gone? What happened.. why they ruined the series? You can't even follow the storyline because there is no storyline at all, it is a hot mess... it's so dull, lacking in every aspect.. I am sad they ruined the potential this series had.. you will see only sexually suggestive scenes where they eat ice-cream lol like we care... no passion, no love..

"A Través De Mi Ventana" has left opinions divided because it is considered a work that does not honor literature and is only a manuscript with no authentic literary or cultural value. But since it is something that belongs to internet culture where it has a large number of followers and defenders, the reality is that internet culture proved to be more powerful than traditional culture, as happened with the Five Nights At Freddy's movie and It is thanks to this that "A Través De Mi Ventana" managed to transcend the audiovisual medium. The film managed to demonstrate that success is currently defined solely by popularity, without giving importance to the quality that the product may have and letting the box office numbers have more relevance than the reviews. After this, Netflix decided to take advantage of this opportunity to bring us a new trilogy. Finally, "A Través Del Mar" arrived and it was expected that this sequel would adapt the second book, but Netflix preferred to invent a new story and it must be admitted that doing that was a mistake.

"A Través Del Mar" has a story that continues the relationship of Ares and Raquel while they are on vacation. One good thing that this story has is that Ares is now more mature and has this conflict about whether studying Medicine is his true future. Everything could be fine there despite having the typical romantic clichés, but the film has a serious problem that lies in the script. There are good shots, good photography and even an acceptable soundtrack, but all that would be only 50 percent of what is good in this film. The plot feels empty and lacking substance. As much as the first movie is a typical Wattpad story that certain people disapprove of, you have to admit that it is much better and has better substance with a good pace. In this sequel, on the other hand, the writing is a mess and everything that happens here feels very random with a lack of development. There are scenes that feel mixed together or are pure filler. Everything in the first hour is inconsistent until the moment comes when Raquel begins to wonder if Ares was cheating on her and at least that sparked a little interest in what happens next.

Introducing the relationships of Ares' brothers may have added something, but it turns out they are also filler. The subplots with Ares' borthers and Yoshi are not well developed and have no coordination with the main plot. The relationship between Claudia and Artemis could have been good with more development because it is clear that Artemis wanted to follow Ares' example. The thing about Apollo and his partner was only an ornament to later provide a delightful scene that in the end was not necessary. Yoshi's couple, Anna, is a character that feels like she came out of nowhere and only served as a common thread for Yoshi to fulfill a role in the final moments of the film. The good thing is that this helped the film conclude in a more decent way after so many inconsistencies. The bad thing is that it generates some pity for Yoshi because he felt like a fairly wasted character.

In conclusion, "A Través Del Mar" is one of those sequels that does not honor the original film and feels like a product that was made just to take advantage of the popularity of the Wattpad novel and its adaptation. Ariana Godoy had collaborated as a consultant on this film and that should have contributed something positive, but it was quite the opposite. You can feel the air of Godoy's work, but expressed in a very inconsistent way. Not only the people who rejected the first movie had the same opinion about this sequel, even the majority of female fans who defend the book and the first movie have also been disappointed with this movie. It is not something strange and perhaps the best thing would have been to have used the plot of the second book instead of inventing a new one. There are few people who were satisfied with this new proposal, so making this sequel without taking into account the second book was not a good idea. My final rating for this movie is a 5/10.

The writers of the sequel did a great job in terms of pushing the story of Raquel and Ares forward and focused on dramatic character development. The great thing about this movie is that the sequel is not a replica/repeat of the first movie. It grows beyond the first one, moving out of teenage puppy love into adulthood

The first movie is a teen rom-com while the second movie expands into what it means to be a grown-up, the weight of your actions and dire consequences of making wrong decisions as an adult. The movie deals with growth post the couple's "honeymoon phase" where things are no longer rosy. With adulthood comes struggles, growth for each of the characters and the lessons they learn from their mistakes

The best part of the sequel is the storyline of Ares. He is the one who endures the most change, faces struggles and holds the most responsibility. He is no longer the alpha male in his protected high school environment but ventures out to the next phase in his life where stakes are higher. The movie ends with a renewed dedication to his cause (saving lives) and determination to make a difference. We also see his love for Raquel deepening in the second movie. He truly loves her in a mature manner. He is no longer a teenager but is transitioning to a mature intelligent responsible alpha adult. The actor Julio Peña who plays Ares did a greath job in this sequel showing Ares struggles and eventual maturity

I also love the movie pace. The challenges and problems are built in an ascending crescendo with each problem in Raquel and Ares relationship piling up on top of the previous, culminating in a disastrous event

This sequel is well-thought out in terms of characters, relationships and dramatic development, significantly much better than the sequels of other sagas (which are largely repetition of their first movie)

I do understand that this story was a watt pad story but being as it was made into a movie if should have been way better. The movie could have had a great continuation of the story but it was not. The movie was very poorly executed, all over the place and did not make sense for half of the movie. If you watch the first like I did you would be very disappointed how rushed and poorly made movie was. As well as a lot of the so called "plot" was not made understandable by really anyone in my opinion. For someone who has watch made movies similar to this and has not really likened those, this movie falls even under those movies. I would still recommend you watch it to get your own opinion but this was mine..