Film review of Antoinette Jadaone’s Alone/Together.
Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil are teamed up for another romantic drama film—Alone/Together. It was released nationwide just in time for Valentine’s Day and has since garnered more than P200M.
The film follows college sweethearts Christine and Raf, who meet for the first time after their eight year split. Both are adults in relationship with different people and reminisce about their past, their dreams, and reflect on what their life has become.
I was personally praying to all the gods that I wouldn’t get to see this film (due to my personal bias against romantic Filipino films that tell the same repetitive plot with the same actors) but in the end I was glad I did get to see it because a) it proved my personal bias correct and b) it proved me wrong too.
‘The Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil card’—obviously their loyal fan base is the reason why this film earned so much in less than two weeks. I am not a fan of both, I’ve never seen any of their films together but I was truly amazed with their acting skills. Their chemistry was never something I doubted—they displayed nakakakilig and nakakasakit at the perfect times convincingly. Soberano captured Christine’s innocence and optimism well during her youth and her maturity and vulnerability when she ages.
Enrique’s character was okay, he did not have much screen time nor back story as much as Liza did. But with his few dramatic moments, you could see his vulnerability and realness which I enjoyed.
The plot was okay. Nothing unexpected took place. It’s a love story in the modern world. It does make you reminisce about your life after seeing it. It makes you question—are there dreams that I have ignored? Dreams that I thought were too big for me? Dreams that I put aside in order to live a more practical and convenient life? Alone/Together shows us that our dreams are still worth pursuing no matter how impossible they may seem or how hard they are to reach. All we need is the courage to change something that leads, and not deter, us to our dreams, goals, or aspirations.
I was in awe of the film’s cinematography. They had beautiful shots where they incorporated the scenery and made us of the warm/cool color tone.
I noticed how they used the warm tone to show when they were bright, young, in love, and so full of life and hope while the cooler tone was much more noticeable when they were older and much more distant from their dreams.
Overall, I would rate this film a 3.8/5. It was an okay film that I would recommend if you were into the Filipino commercialized-romantic drama since this seems to be the best one out there.
Ericka Frye
collision of ideas 