In this sappy romantic tale, McCoy de Leon and Elisse Joson, play lovers who are trying to defeat a merciless, [nearly] unbeatable enemy.
VIVA FILMS
Actors: McCoy de Leon, Elisse Joson, Yayo Aguila, Lander Vera-Perez, AJ Mulach, Nicki Morena
Genre: Romance, Drama
Premise: A sheltered girl, who grew up in a very protective family, is asking a boy to fight for their love. If only he was not too consumed by his own battles. (Vivamax)
Running Time: 118 minutes
Director: Real S. Florido
Watch it on: web.vivamax.net, Vivamax app
Why You Should Watch It:
The sincerity and sweetness make one overlook the film’s flaws.
The film is heartwarming but also tragic and sappy at the same time. Moviegoers are [probably] wondering why filmmakers do not seem to tire adapting the rich-girl-meets-poor-boy trope or how much more films will tell about a seemingly perfect romance only to be cut short by a fatal illness.
Sadly, it is that never-ending love for the familiar that convinces producers to make the same thing over and over again.
People, let alone hopeless romantics, adore the formula.
‘Habangbuhay’, a new feature about yet another complicated young love, still sells.
The film follows a young and affluent social media influencer Bea (Joson), and poor man’s boy, JR (de Leon). As most lead players in this kind of romance, the first interaction does not always look good. In JR and Bea’s case, they had to engage in a cat-and-dog drama before their relationship blooms into something sweeter.
A beauty in both form and character, Joson had little trouble navigating her mean and privileged role. The energy she exuded in pulling off Bea’s multi-layered charm is a beauty that makes the character easy to root for, despite its flaws. De Leon similarly found ease in breathing JR to life and allowing his inherent charisma extends to his character.
The connection romantically with Joson has created a stir believable chemistry. There is an angle of this pairing that does not come out easy to the eye.
This film deals with the rare Common Variant Immune Deficiency (CVID), an incurable disease that provides the major crux of Bea and JR’s love story. It seems an obligatory choice for the writers to make sure the entire story does not fit the romance-killed-by-cancer template, although it’s hard to tell whether it is necessary.
Young director Real S. Florido tried not to waste his film’s airtime, although two hours already–she felt long enough for this familiar tale.
He had adorable choices for his film’s script, mostly thanks to his writers Paolo Vaconcha and Jon Versoza. Award-winning cinematographer Lee Briones-Meily’s exquisite touch makes the film’s scenes conjure a magical feel. Given that it is a romantic tragedy, she rendered a great work in allowing Florido’s scenic set pieces truly stand out.
5 – Excellent
4 – Very good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
Stream Habangbuhay on theVivamax app or web.vivamax.net. Watch the official full trailer below:
