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A comet that shows up once every 15 years becomes a fixture to brighten up the night sky. Two young adults sign up for an account on a dating website and immediately match. Alex or “Lex” (Seth Fedelin) resides in Cebu while Karenina or “Karen” (Francine Diaz) hails from Marikina. After a day or two of chatting, they are sure that their rapport is not just an online thing, and the two decide to meet up. Lex books a flight to the capital and they agree to meet up at Luneta’s kilometer zero at exactly 7 PM. After two consecutive nights of trying, the two never meet. Soon they discover that they are living fifteen years apart. Lex is in 2009 while Karen is in 2024. Discovering the advantages of knowing someone in the past, Karen asks Lex a favor to change the future which is technically her present so that her family can be whole again.
I was supposed to boycott this but I’m glad I gave it another chance because I am a sucker for storylines that involve wacky time elements. I guess my only problem now that I’ve finally seen the film is how if stripped off its fantasy elements, wouldn’t My Future You just be a Grooming narrative? Technically, it isn’t, because the first time they meet online they are both in their early 20’s. The first time they meet in the same timeline and space, however, he is also in his early 20’s but she is what? 7 years old? From that moment on he basically stalks her, mainly online, waiting for her to grow up before finally approaching her. Creepy, bro?
Yeah, I know. Grooming would have been worming his way into her life early on, pretending to be some long lost relative whatsoever to be close to her, which he never did. Somehow, it still comes across as a bit strange, though. Like seeing a friend’s infant grow up and then making moves once the child comes of age? But let’s stop this discussion here. After all, Lex falls in love at first sight with the ADULT Karen. It would have been pedophilia had he also been enamored with the seven-year old version. Since that element is absent, then I guess we are all good. Waiting for 15 years, though? That’s some mad patience right there.
The Seth Fedelin boy can act. He knows how to use his eyes to convey emotions, which is always a useful tool for any actor who wants to be taken seriously. In this case, I put my doubts to rest and acknowledge his Best Actor nomination. One thing he can improve is not overdoing his facial tics. He looks like if Daniel Padilla had Joshua Garcia’s acting chops. As for the Francine Diaz girl, her acting is decent for a newbie, neither something that can’t be improved by more workshops nor one that you would shower with accolades. In this regard, her Best Actress nomination could’ve been better off with somebody else.
Reviewing the nominations and awards now, I would’ve given this more of a fighting chance in Screenplay. The Best Director accolade is a bit questionable given how stiff the competition in that category was. As for the Best Picture runner-up nod, I would have this film switch places with Isang Himala in 4th place. revealing the film’s main twist in the trailers was probably a marketing move to tell the public that this is not a typical rom-com so they should watch it, but it takes away the fun of speculation during the first half of the movie considering we already know the twist.
The storyline is not really that original. Using separate timelines as a plot device always comes across as gimmicky and this is probably the reason why we seldom see films like this get produced because the novelty wears off once it has already been used in other films. To be fair, it has been two decades since Il Mare and its remake The Lake House came out, which are probably the closest in terms of material that this can be compared to. However, Kimi no na wa which was released almost a decade ago is somehow still fresh in the Filipino public’s shared consciousness. The similarity ends with the comet, but still too on the nose to easily brush off.
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