Metro Manila Film Festival 2021: A Tito’s take on an online story

MMFF Movie ReviewLove at First Stream
Directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina

HOW lucky I am to be old enough not to deal with the problems faced by the characters in the pandemic rom-com Love at First Stream.

The romantic comedy, directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and produced by Star Cinema and social media and streaming app Kumu, sees four youngsters finding love and grappling with the pressures of being social media stars. The film is heavily reliant on what goes on in Kumu’s space (of which Star Cinema’s parent ABS-CBN is an investor*), and it sometimes feels as if the film is a vehicle for the platform itself.

V (short for Vilma, played by Daniela Stranner), is an aspiring vlogger viciously racking up likes on social media, hoping to monetize the attention she gains from the internet so she can move away from her mother (played by Agot Isidro), with whom she has a distant relationship. With her is her cousin and foster sister Megumi (played by Pinoy Big Brother alum Kaori Oinuma) who is a little bit more immersed in the real world (online classes notwithstanding), save for a short flirtation she has on Kumu with a certain CatBoy. She has a rivalry in her Zoom classes with the handsome and popular Gino (Jeremiah Lisbo). V cooks up a scheme to manufacture a love story with her former prom date, Tupe (Anthony Jennings), in order to gain her requisite likes.

If you’re upwards of 30, this plot would hold little appeal. It doesn’t help that the kids speak a la Gen Z, so get your Tita Translator ready. The film is also heavily reliant on the aesthetics of the internet, and texts and Kumu’s interface are as much a part of the film as the set. Otherwise, it might be able to secure the short attention span of younger viewers, and fans of the pairings might find some enjoyment in seeing the stars.

We have to commend the team for making a narrative out of life during the pandemic as the pandemic is still unfolding. The kids are still attending online classes, deliveries have become as necessary as a limb, and the cast are sometimes in their required masks. Perhaps it’s the pandemic too that makes the film so chaste: love is lost and gained through hugs and almost-kisses.

Back to the story: V’s scheming to get more likes (and money) leads her to a dating show on Kumu, where the prize is cash, an online love team with Gino, and a chance to be on a campaign to be the top trending love team on the app (are you still with me?). However, this reel romance compromises the real blossoming love she has with Tupe. Megumi fights for an internship abroad (a goal that’s at least relatable), while trying to discern her feelings for Kumu’s CatBoy (spoiler: it’s Gino).

The stars of this film are rehashes of other, bigger stars. Ms. Stranner has the air of the young Anne Curtis-Smith in her, before that actress hit her stride. Ms. Oinuma has the charisma of another PBB alum, Kim Chiu (make of that what you will). Mr. Jennings is a bootleg Timothée Chalamet, and what luck for him for that look to be fashionable. Mr. Lisbo has the charm of the late Rico Yan, and for being the most watchable in this set (maybe it’s a bias for his storyline of being the adopted son of two women, one of them played in a cameo by a glistening Pinky Amador), I wish him luck.

V’s scheme blows up in her face — but not before getting enough money to secure a down payment for a condominium (congratulations). In another world, I would have sympathized if the climb to the top didn’t rely on likes and online validation. Have the metrics of success changed while the grown-ups were napping? Because this is a rom-com, everybody makes up again, and everybody falls into the arms of their designated lovers.

The film is a commendable take on the culture of the internet audience, and its propensity to form mobs (the mob as a collective, which the four youngsters have to appease, is as much a character in the film). It’s also a nice-enough slice of life piece during the pandemic, should someone from the future find this film. As a romantic comedy, the plot is spread too thinly over its almost-two-hour runtime, propped up as it is by internet ephemera. I left the movie theater an ornery uncle, wondering what the kids were talking about.

*https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/07/19/pinoy-app-kumu-grows-by-tapping-millennial-and-genz-need-for-authenticity and https://www.bworldonline.com/sparkup-community-mediatech-startup-kumu-raises-5-m-in-series-a/