100 Poems for Stella2017

I'm a bit wary when it comes to Filipino romantic movies as somehow they show promise of good things, especially in terms of storytelling, only to fall short and regress back to their histrionics, exaggerated emotions and the same formulaic fake realities utilized by their predecessors before and during the early Millennium. They copy stuff abroad and mix it with a little bit of this and that and pose their work as refreshingly original. 100 Tula Para kay Stella is (500) Days of Summer, sans the stutter, while managing to indulge in the Filipinos penchant for theatrics and deep emotional scenes and memorable lines that doesn't make any sense. On a more positive note, the performance by JC Santos and Bela Padilla soldiered the entire film and made the experience bearable and enjoyable for the audiences to stay throughout from start to finish. The two outstanding songs from Rivermaya's Between the Stars and Waves perfectly fits the emo atmosphere and setting of the mid-2000s. However, I couldn't bat an eye to the horrible sound mixing/editing, which often overpowers the mood of the film and never got it right. There were scenes that you just want to listen to the actors or feel what they're feeling even with their silence but the ambient sounds were just insufferable to the point that it becomes distracting—like noise.