After being the #1 box office hit at Cinemalaya 2025, Open Endings is officially back on the big screen starting June 10 nationwide! The film features the award-winning ensemble performance of Janella Salvador, Klea Pineda, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, and Leanne Mamonong. Directed by Nigel Santos and written by Keavy Eunice Vicente, the film follows four queer women who successfully went from exes to best friends. It’s a fresh, modern look at navigating grief, the absolute chaos of the modern dating scene, and the reality of chosen families.

Full disclosure: this wasn’t my first time watching it. I managed to catch its run at last year’s Cinemalaya, where it stood out as the only sapphic film in the entire lineup. While it’s not the first of its kind, let’s be real: us sapphics desperately lack representation, even more so in the context of mainstream Filipino media.

But catching it a second time hit entirely differently. It allowed me to unlock new perspectives that I might have missed during my first watch.

It’s like holding up a mirror

There’s something incredibly vulnerable about watching a movie that feels like it stole pages straight out of your journal. Open Endings doesn’t shy away from the messy, beautiful, and sometimes agonizing realities of being a queer adult in the Philippines. Watching it the second time allowed me to look past the initial excitement of just “seeing girls love girls” and actually digest each character and their relationship dynamics. The film perfectly captures the hesitation, the unsaid words, and the heavy societal expectations that local queer women navigate. It’s interesting how it feels like holding up a mirror to our own past heartbreaks and triumphs. Is this a universal lore for queer women?

Ride or die friendships

While I admit we can’t help but swoon over Mihan’s smile, it’s the beauty of female friendships that anchors the entire film. First, it perfectly captures how the local queer community is so tight-knit, we end up either dating each other or somehow remaining in the same friend group with our exes or even just a crush. It’s a reality we can’t really explain, but watching this with my own friends made me appreciate the ensemble cast so much more.

Janella, Klea, Jasmine, and Leanne have this effortless chemistry that looks so familiar to me; it honestly feels like they’re part of my own college barkada. The film beautifully highlights how, in a world that isn’t always kind to queer love, your chosen family becomes your ultimate safe haven. It’s a love letter to those ride-or-die friendships, the ones who will say the brutally honest things you need to hear, but will also hug you tightest through a devastating breakup.

Heavy-hitting truths

During my first watch, I was so caught up in the plot, but this second time, the dialogue really settled in. Open Endings delivers heavy-hitting truths about self-worth, closure (or the lack of it), and the reality that sometimes, we have to face difficult choices when we love someone. There’s literally a scene that’s a therapy session, and it feels like I’m the patient. #FeelingsArentFacts, IYKYK.

Representation where it matters

We often talk about representation in media, but Open Endings shows us what good representation actually looks like. It moves away from common stereotypes queer women often fall into, and instead gives these characters agency, depth, and joy. As someone who watches Thai Girls Love (GL) series, seeing this localized, hearing colloquial language and humor, seeing familiar Manila spots, and feeling the cultural weight of Filipino family dynamics really matters. It proves that our stories are worth telling on the big screen, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and mainstream celebration, not just relegated to indie niches.

Our verdict: Is it worth watching the rerun?

If you’ve seen it during its Cinemalaya run, we say it’s worth the rewatch. You truly get to reel in more, and maybe you might spot things you missed the first time!

Open Endings is more than just a “win for the community.” It’s already given that the ensemble is top-tier, but the direction is sharp, and the emotional payoff is really where it hits. It doesn’t matter if you’re an ally or part of the LGBTQIA+, or whether you’re watching it with a partner or sitting in a row full of your best friends; it demands your attention and prompts you to think about what will happen next. It’s the kind of movie that stays with you long after the credits roll, proving that its Cinemalaya hype was entirely justified.

If you missed it during its initial festival run, check out where you can catch Open Endings starting June 10:

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