Starting Over Again

Olivia M. Lamasan's 2014 Filipino film is about the person who ended a relationship returning years later. Ginny is an architecture student when she gets together with Marco, her teacher; the relationship starts intensely, then she leaves by her own decision and goes abroad. Coming back ten years later she finds that Marco has built a life, and she tries to win him back. The film does not enter the expected shape here: it does not vindicate her persistence and makes her pay for returning. Marco's new relationship is not belittled either. A considerable success in Filipino commercial cinema, it was talked about for handing an audience that came for romantic comedy a heavy ending. The balance between Toni Gonzaga and Piolo Pascual is its strength. Who it's for: viewers who like Filipino melodrama and second-chance stories. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a happy ending; the film resists one.