MOVIE REVIEW: THAT THING CALLED TADHANA – The Many Faces of Love

Heartbreaks, firsts, seconds, thirds and decisions. Love has been a universal language, it unites people, help one another to be a better individual and time can only tell how long a relationship can stand against struggles. “Where do broken hearts go?”, quoting one of Whitney Houston’s songs, is the question of what comes after love.

That Thing Called Tadhana follow Mace and Anthony, two lost, unlucky individuals who met each other at the airport in an unlikely situation, and then eventually found themselves in a long journey where friendship begins and other truths unfold. Long story short, this is a love or romantic flick that explores how time moves among us and unexpected circumstances that’s in store.

While this is a “love” story, it moves away from your conventional elements such as the social status, actors reading their lines as if in they’re in an elocution contest and of course never ending screaming, slapping and backstabbing. Another part what makes the whole film that makes it different would be the concept of Tabula Rasa – Mace and Anthony starts out as individuals who appeared lost somewhere, the journey parallels on their reflection as well as reconnecting to themselves, something like reading a character sketch which makes it interesting.

Antoinette Jadaone’s direction and screenplay take somewhat resembles Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ series, focused on two protagonists, one city and long conversations as time goes by. The dialogue works perfectly with the slow pace: wits and humor comes out with good timing and the pop culture references adds up a nice touch, it has an essence of our everyday lives.

Cinematographer Sasha Palomares does a great job on turning Baguio and Sagada into a picture-esque scenery – from the somber night scenes in Baguio and up to the luscious landscapes of mountainous areas of Sagada which makes it a cinematic treat in the eyes; detailed close-ups and framing gave emphasis on the characters’ demeanor.
Angelica Panganiban and JM De Guzman as Mace and Anthony is what makes all great aspects of the film bind together, the two leads were solid from start to finish: delivering the lines, carrying the characters’ nuances and also the fact that you forget that they are the actors but the characters itself, it’s a rarity that we get to see strong acting in romance genre films.

Angelica Panganiban’s performance made us laugh and cry at the same time, she was able to manipulate her emotions without going over the top, and aside from that, her narration alone has its honest and compassionate way of saying it, it felt like she was talking to us, the audience. JM De Guzman brings the best on subtlety and charm as Anthony, he comes off as this shy, soft-spoken person and one thing, he does a great job on conveying Anthony’s expressions through his eyes and not to mention, he carries his character’s sorrow and honesty, little by little.

I think what makes the actors are so effective in their roles and chemistry is that their body of work, these actors were able to connect themselves and played them like human beings, one of us.

Tadhana(fate) may sound cheesy as it seems, but the film breathes life to it, gives a study of an individual of its trials, moments and phases that tests our sense of self, it’s a love story that goes away with your mainstream sensibilities and has its way of telling life. 2012: Ang Nawawala, 2013: Sana Dati, and 2014: That Thing Called Tadhana, another film that we should thank the filmmakers for putting a simplistic, romantic film that’s worthy of the renaissance of that genre. Hopefully, we get to see more films like these in the coming years ahead.