Must Be... Love

Dado C. Lumibao's 2013 Filipino film follows a young woman in love with her best friend. Patchot, played by Kathryn Bernardo, cannot tell the friend she has stood beside for years how she feels, and things grow more tangled when another girl appears. The template is entirely familiar and the film makes no attempt to change it. Its draw in the Philippines came from the popularity of the Bernardo and Padilla pairing at the time. One of Liza Soberano's first major roles is here. The story's best quality is acknowledging how damaging the passage from friendship to love can be; its weakest is a resolution that arrives too neatly and supporting characters that stay functional. Who it's for: viewers who follow Filipino youth romance and the Bernardo and Padilla pairing. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a story that leaves the template, or who will find a runtime past two hours excessive.