Hello, Love, Goodbye

Joy does domestic work in Hong Kong. She came from the Philippines and her one aim is to get to Canada; she is applying, taking courses and working extra on her days off. She sends money home and keeps nothing for herself. Ethan tends bar in the same city; he was born in Hong Kong, is used to life there and has no thought of leaving. They meet. A relationship begins and their plans do not fit each other. Cathy Garcia-Sampana directs. Kathryn Bernardo plays Joy and Alden Richards plays Ethan. The film took the highest box office in Philippine cinema to that date. Its ground is real: hundreds of thousands of Filipino domestic workers are employed in Hong Kong. The film shows that community gathering in parks and underpasses on Sundays; the day off, the residence permit and the relationship with employers are inside the narrative. It sits in a romantic shape and the matter is migration: for Joy the relationship is not an option but something that breaks her plan. Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards were stars of two different television networks in the Philippines, and their pairing was one reason for the film's success. Hong Kong was shot on location and the city appears with its unpicturesque face. Its limits are length and tone; the melodrama rises in the second half and the narrative returns to formula. Who it is for: viewers who like Philippine cinema and romantic drama grounded in migration. Who it is not for: it is long, the emotional emphasis is high, and the ending is predictable.