These snippets where Garcia-Molina lets kids be kids, feeling puppy love for the first time, is when Love at First Stream is at its most addictive and satisfying. V and Tupe’s “date” makes the world melt away, the silence bringing the two closer after a long period of performativity, while Gino and Megumi’s hug is filled with youthful static, the awkwardness a byproduct of their interactions solely being online. But by placing the spotlight on four newcomers, Garcia-Molina takes on the difficult task of introducing them to her audiences, and with it comes the responsibility of highlighting their strengths and hiding their weaknesses. The act hammers in the kilig that comes with (re)discovering your favorite loveteam and the lungkot resulting from the disintegration of their chemistry.
By taking advantage of her actors’ reputations and established personas, she is able to play with audience expectation, subverting or submitting to romantic desires. In the past, Garcia-Molina has wielded branding to her favor. In many ways, Love at First Stream is a test of branding: the first of its actors, the second of its story. But when a livestreamed dating show with Megumi’s heartthrob classmate Gino (Jeremiah Lisbo) garners her the attention she’s needed, V lets herself fall down the digital rabithole, discovering the price of fame and fortune in the process. She enlists the help of her charming neighbor and former love interest Tupe (Anthony Jennings) and her cousin-turned-foster-sister Megumi (Kaori Oinuma), to little success. Love at First Stream touches on these same themes: Desperate for independence from a crowded household, V (Daniela Stranner) tries to make a living during the pandemic as a vlogger. In each film, love (and the act of losing it) is constantly complicated by class struggle, and the process of reckoning with how we are tied to our material realities not only becomes a source of necessary tension, but also grounds characters in ways that makes them relatable to audiences. One More Chance sees Popoy and Basha’s relationship dissolving as Basha decides to leave their firm, It Takes a Man and a Woman finds Laida and Miggy reconciling while working together, and Hello, Love, Goodbye forces Ethan and Joy to choose between pursuing their relationship or their dreams.
With this comes the potency of emotional connection: how a good cry can be cathartic, a well-timed joke can be uplifting, and how these two can be mixed in the same scene to shattering effect – one that keeps audiences coming back for more.ĭiving deeper into Garcia-Molina’s work, much of her genius lies in how she pits romance, career, and familial duty against one another, pulling her protagonists in all directions to capture something unique about the Filipino experience. With a filmography of Filipino classics and box-office record-breakers, Garcia-Molina has built a career around stories with broad commercial appeal knowledgeable that it’s more difficult to make something that appeals to the many. Of the gamut of storytellers that toy with the genre, Cathy Garcia-Molina is one of the people who understands this best.
DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – The Star Cinema romance film is a brand unto itself, and to underestimate its power, especially in the Philippines, is a mistake.