Hold Me Close

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Woody (Carlo Aquino) has been globetrotting for a while trying to find a forever home before finally coming to Karatsu, a small city along the coast of Saga on the island of Kyushu. Moving in with his luggage and a globe, he heads out to explore the city. He comes across a stall selling squid which is manned by a trio of siblings. Tantan (Jairus Aquino) and Botbot (Migo Valid) are overprotective of their big sister Lynlyn (Julia Barretto) who, after a freak accident in the woods involving a yokai, has gained the ability of getting flashes that allow her to gauge whether a person will bring her happiness or pain just by touching them. While Woody originally registers as neutral and then positive, a few days of spending time together leads to a negative reading for Lynlyn, who gives her new love interest three chances of regaining his good vibes so they can continue with their budding relationship.

Whimsical musical score. Bright cinematography. Quirky acting style. Supernatural ability used as a plot device. All of these are screaming Kdrama. Come to think of it, Hold Me Close would have fared better as a multi-episode series on any streaming platform. I mean, I’d watch it. Had they gone this route, then there would have been more time to explore the origins and specifics of Lynlyn’s touching thingy. They could have also developed the romance angle at a more leisurely pace. They could have also given the two brothers their own storylines instead of solely existing as a substitute for their big sister’s internal monologue.

This is that type of romantic comedy that is usually released without anyone noticing, only to surface on Netflix a few months after its big screen premier to find relevance there. I suppose this will be the route that Hold Me Close might take after its presence is barely felt as one of ten entries at this year’s MMFF. Its cinema count has dropped to 15 theaters, NATIONWIDE, after just three days into the festival run. At this point, no miracle will help it to even enter the collective public’s consciousness. It’s box office suicide for a producer to have a romcom entry like this at the MMFF where majority of the attendees are families watching together.

Hold Me Close also holds the unenviable distinction of being the only one of ten films at this year’s festival to not score any nomination at all, although I believe it would have gotten a good shot at Best Cinematography had this festival been more credible. The director takes full advantage of the foliage that makes their host country swoon worthy during spring. In particular, the yellow hues from Barretto’s skirt all the way to the flowers carpeting the fields they find themselves in, the color just pops out of the screen as if jumping at you. Add some sweeping panoramic views of the countryside and you end up with vivid backdrops.

I tried hard to make sense of what Lynlyn’s touching thingy is supposed to symbolize and ended up with the conclusion that it is just a metaphor for real-life trauma, which they also elaborate on a bit in this film anyway via that encounter in the woods. The fantasy element only serves to make it stand out from your typical romantic comedy but in the end, they are all the same. Besides, aren’t romantic comedies all just about a person trying to break the walls another person has built as a defence mechanism for trauma either from a previous relationship or life in general? In short, they just sugarcoat the trauma with fantasy.

While Aquino and Barretto both deliver performances that are well within the scope of what their characters would allow them, this kind of acting is not usually the type that gets showered with accolades. What is admirable about their portrayal is how they manage to keep everything light. Unfortunately, light won’t do them any favors in a field of actors who benefit from better-written characters that are basically vehicles for such awards. Anyway, the better option for this movie would have been a Valentine’s Day release or any other time of year when local competition is non-existent. Otherwise, this is just doomed to fade in the background.