Nowadays, very seldom that Pinoy movies get produced and
shown in cinemas. More often than not,
big budgeted Hollywood movies lord over the box-office races week after week. This is one of the reasons
why, I take time to see local movies. Movies which I feel and think worthy of my time
and money.
When Spring Films released the teaser of its 2017 maiden offering
“Kita Kita” months ago, right off the bat, it captured my interest and senses.
Back then I really felt that I have to put the movie in my “To watch” list. And
true to my promise, I spent time seeing this film over the weekend to cap
my Saturday night.
One of the blurbs of Kita Kita based on its press releases,
the movie is said to be the atypical kind of romantic comedy. The team-up of
its lead actors (coined as “AlEmpoy” ) is said to be the “Ang tambalang hindi mo inakala” and yes
true to its sense, their on-screen chemistry and rapport is a revelation.
Kita Kita begins with the story of LEA (Alessandra De Rossi),
an OFW tourist guide in Sapporo, Japan.
She's already engaged to her Japanese boyfriend. When Lea finds out that her
boyfriend cheats on her, she goes temporarily blind. Enter frame, TONYO ( Empoy
Marquez) a comical and not so handsome “kabayan” of Lea. A very persistent lad visiting Lea,
bringing her food every morning. Tonyo makes an effort to make Lea’s
situation’s lighter by his natural sweetness
and whimsical actions. As days go by, Lea finds herself enjoying the company of
Tonyo and considers him her buddy and confidante. Until one day, Lea regains her sight, sees
Tonyo but unexpected twist of fate changes their happy state.
It’s my first time to see a Sigrid Bernardo’s (writer/director) film and I must
say, she’s showing a great promise as a film director. Her style of narrative
is very straight forward, realistic and compact. She doesn’t want much
complexities in its plot and subplot. I
also commend how the sequence of the story was contrived. The flashback scenes were
effective and cohesive. I so love Lea’s 10 reasons to think first before
bursting to anger (when she found out that her boyfriend flirts with her friend). It makes the viewers understand her love-story more. Parallel to this, we see in
the third part of the film that Tonyo has his own version of 10 things about his
fondness of Lea! Those scenes were creatively written I must say! The
cinematography is a delight! As a viewer, I was brought to see the beauty of
Sapporo. Very clean, pristine! A sight to behold! It makes me want to book a flight to Japan and see the beauty of
Sapporo right at that moment! The musical score is on-point! Air Supply’s classic hit “Two Less
Lonely People” as movie theme and soulfully sang by KZ Tandingan! Who would not feel the love of Lea’s and Tonyo’s
characters with that theme song.
The actors- Alessandra and Empoy- their screen chemistry is
so refreshing and genuine! Who would have thought that they can make the
viewers feel “kilig”! Alessandra’s
characterization of Lea is consistent!
Very rare that an actress make its audience feel the antithesis of emotions-
her vulnerability and strength! But she
does it with much aplomb! Empoy Marquez comic antics is delightful! But during dramatic parts, he can effectively
express his depth in these scenes too. The revelation in the third act is undeniably
heart-felt. I won’t spill it in my
review and will not pre-empt those who have not seen the movie yet but I must
say that only adamant people will not be moved seeing the last scenes.
Kita Kita is a surprise hit in the box-office. It’s a living
testimony that word of mouth advertising still works. In a generation where
there’s scarcity of quality/entertaining Pinoy movies. I encourage everyone to
see this film to push Joyce Bernal and Piolo Pascual and team (Spring Films
producers) to produce more movies like
Kita Kita.
My rating: 10
CCTO of movie poster-Spring Films
