Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I watched Hello, Love, Goodbye four times in the theater. Yes. Four times. That’s why I was freaking excited when the sequel was announced.

I even wrote about my hopes for it here! I genuinely believe that Ethan and Joy’s love story is one of the few Star Cinema flicks that actually deserved a second film, and considering the global events that happened since Joy left Hong Kong, the sequel has the potential to tell a story that hasn’t been told in Philippine mainstream media.

And now, not even five months since it was announced, we have the trailer… and of course, I have thoughts.

Joy and Ethan’s looks

Yeah, the actors are delivering, but I’m not sure I’m totally on board with the styling. Yeah, I know they’re bound to change their looks to visually tell us how they’ve changed over the years, but all those colors?

What’s the color story here? But fine, maybe it’s just the color grading? Maybe it’s just too saturated? Also, I know it’s cold in Canada, but that filter? The complete lack of pores? Are we sure?

Green screen galore

What is up with the look of the whole trailer? The amount of green screen used is staggering. And yeah, maybe it would’ve been fine if it came out great, but it unfortunately didn’t. The scene at the airport looked like a Western Union commercial.

Joy and Ethan look immune from the shade of trees, too! Also, I remember thinking when it was announced, “Damn, I wish they didn’t have a playdate so early because there’d be no snow in the film since they’ll be filming during the summer!”

But yay! There’s snow! Wonder how they did that! 

I just want coherence, guys

One of my favorite things about Hello, Love, Goodbye is how the cinematography was able to capture Hong Kong’s beauty and grit, how very grounded it felt, and how the characters actually look like they inhabit the spaces captured by the camera and are very much part of that ecosystem.

Now, of course, Canada’s climate, geography, culture, and architecture are vastly different from Hong Kong’s so it’s understandable that HLA would look very different. But it looks… artificial. The colors, the green screen, the lack of pores, the over-styling of the actors – they are too far removed from the realism the first film possessed, making it look like it’s not even related to the first one.

I mean, the Laida Magtalas movies don’t pop up in our heads when we think, “visual excellence!” or “incredible production design!” but at least those look like they’re a trilogy, right?

The OG cast

I’m happy they didn’t completely drop the supporting characters from the first movie, but this split screen… guys… there had to be another way…

This shot

This shot, guys… This is the film I wanted to see. Not the glossy, Zonrox Color Safe commercial that was most of the trailer.

Fine, enough about the visuals

Now onto some legitimate concern: is it just me or did you guys get some flashbacks of The Hows of Us too? That scene where Joy said she doesn’t give second chances? Ethan bugging her, trying to win her back? I saw somebody ask on Twitter why Kathryn’s characters always get leading men who keep pulling at her whenever they’re out there trying to build a career and honestly? Real.

I predicted months ago that this would have elements similar to Sana Maulit Muli and Before Sunset, a chance to rekindle a love lost, but I really hope the storyline is far from The Hows of Us because I don’t want to learn about Ethan pulling a Primo. And I certainly don’t want the cause of the break-up to be cheating either, because Direk Cathy already did that with the third Laida Magtalas!

Dear Star Cinema

I know you suffered a lot of losses over the last few years. And I’m sorry to Direk Cathy and the team. I can only imagine how tough it was to film with all the onlookers and other hurdles you had to endure on set. 

But Hello, Love, Goodbye earned close to a billion. Kathryn Bernardo is the biggest movie star of this generation. We would have happily waited for the sequel she and Alden deserve. The sequel fans deserve. And that sequel would have been one that decided to take its time to be written, shot, and edited. Not a churn-and-burn output filmed in a studio we’re supposed to believe was a street in Canada.

And yes, I know it’s too early. I know I haven’t seen the actual film yet. But that’s the thing. However good this sequel turns out to be, we all know that it would still have been better had you let your writers write for a longer amount of time if you didn’t rush production, if Direk Cathy and her team weren’t too pressed to make it to the November 13 playdate. 

But screw it. I’ll still watch it because it’s Joy and Ethan and it’s KathDen. And look at us falling for your machinations, Star Cinema. You’re getting away with rushing your creatives again because we love the actors and the characters too much to let it flop. “Sabi ko, hindi ako magiging mahina pero nandito ka na naman at nandito na naman ako.”

I don’t love you.

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