Starting Over Again

When my mother first coerced my family into watching the movie a few days after it was released, I was understandably hesitant. She had a very glowing response to the movie, to which I was rather intrigued, mostly due to the fact that my mother hardly ever says anything glowing about any Filipino movie. Most of the time, I have nothing particularly nice to say about most of them, either.

I will be frank: the quality of romance movies produced in the Philippines borders on ridiculously cheesy and outright ridiculous, with most feature films of this genre being peppered with jokes from popular television shows and various other pop-culture references inserted only to entice the masses into watching. Usually, the only things carrying a Filipino romance film are a popular celebrity pair-up and a bunch of cheesy one-liners.

I walked into the movie theatre, steeling myself for a barrage of unbearable jokes, pop culture references, and sub-par acting. I was, thankfully, only hit by the former two: after all, these things are inescapable in most films. But what surprised me the most were the performances of the two main leads: Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga, the latter of which is not known for her dramatic performances, being a TV host and model. Gonzaga delivers what is arguably the best performance of her career, playing Ginny, an college student who falls in love with a history professor at her college. Pascual plays Marco, said history professor.

The director, Olivia Lamasan, does a great job directing the cast and crew, leading to beautiful cinematography, costumes, and wonderful performances from the actors, having audiences discover the hidden acting prowess of Gonzaga and Pascual. Supporting actors and actresses also have their moments, and almost all their performances are done very well.

I won't post any spoilers, but the movie is a gripping story of heartbreak, love, and how time and circumstances can change everything, with a dash of slice-of-life humour. Starting Over Again will have you gripping the armrest of your chair as you giggle uncontrollably, and it will also have you sobbing relentlessly either into your sleeve or on the shoulder of whoever is nearest your sopping face. Yes, the movie has its cheesy moments. Yes, it does have some parts that'll make you go "what", but it definitely is worth giving a chance if you've fallen out of love with mainstream Filipino cinema.

Did it really wanted to end this way. It's paknful watch.what if he would have waited 4 years for her. After 4 years, he would be successful, she would be successful, still waiting for each other... In real life, there is too much of these painful moments... So, at least in the movie things could end the happy way!!!

This movie is a sweet experience for all of its two hours. Apart from being written and directed with sparkling coherence, you won't find any vulgarity, or disrespect towards any of its characters. The emotions of the film play atop a foundation of enthusiasm.

Both of the leads look fabulous and are wonderful in their roles. You have to see Toni Gonzaga in action to appreciate how sexy she is, and the male lead is as handsome as Tom Cruise and has more gravitas.

I joined this site just to review this movie. If you read the descriptions from around the Web, there's little to distinguish it from other "chick flicks" both high and low to be found in the wild. Truth be told, though, it's something special.

First of all, I would like to express my warmest sycophantic remarks to all the people behind this movie for making it big and for breaching 400 million gross.

Movie producers around the country just love to tag their romantic films as not the typical one; but in the end, the audience feel disgruntled with its tacky plot and character development. However, I can safely say that Star Cinema did not lie to the public when they said that "Starting Over Again" is not your typical love story. It went beyond my expectations as a moviegoer in terms of its plot.

Every sequence in the movie is something you wouldn't expect to happen. The strategies and literary techniques to make the viewers feel more and more engaged with the plot advances were so effective. The movie did a really great job for jumping away from the usual.

However, there are also several negative fallouts for using too much of these cliffhangers. For one thing, the flashbacks that were used to clarify issues in the plot before the movie ended held back the momentum of the movie to build emotions from the audience. Instead of helping the movie achieve sentiments from the audience, the flashbacks did otherwise.

On another side, the storyline ain't typical at all. It was refreshing to the eyes of the moviegoers to finally see something new for a Filipino romantic film. It is also noteworthy to keep in mind the fact that the pair-up of Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonazaga helped a lot in keeping away the clichés of love stories. It was soothing to see a new love team, far from being a mainstream. In fact, this I think is the secret weapon of the movie for making it big.

In terms of technical aspects, the movie needs a lot of improvement, though. The motion picture photography is plainly not good enough. The camera pans were very plain and dull. The camera motion techniques were just minimal and repetitive. The filters for flashbacks were no different from the scenes supposedly shot from the present, making it difficult for the audience to realize if they are watching the present or the past.

The musical scoring was nice. It builds the hype of the audience every now and then. This ain't surprising for a Filipino movie, however, because Filipinos are naturally inclined and talented when it comes to music. Other movie technicalities such as the scenery, sound effects, etc., are also nice.

On this note, I'm proud to give the movie a grade of 7/10.