REVIEW: Love and isolation collide in 'Hello, Love, Again'
Hello, Love, Again is the sequel to 2019 blockbuster, Hello, Love, Goodbye. Alden Richards and Kathryn Bernardo are back, swapping out the Hong Kong locales of the previous film to continue Ethan and Joy's star-crossed love story in picturesque Canada.
When we last saw them, Ethan and Joy had acknowledged the realities of their situation as overseas Filipino workers. With practicality winning out over emotion, the former dedicated himself to establishing his own bar in Hong Kong, while the latter made her way to Canada in hopes of building a better life for her and her family. The film’s ending left the door open for a future relationship, so the notion of a sequel made sense.
Directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, the film opens in Calgary, a literal world away from the concrete canyons and steel spires of Hong Kong. The pandemic has taken its toll on the woman formerly known as Joy (“Joy is gone,” she intones at one point). Far from the person she was five years ago, Marie, as she is now known, continues to pursue her career to become a practicing nurse. She’s driven, practical, and single-minded—except when it comes to Ethan.
Just as the previous film shone a light on the hardships faced by our OFWs in Hong Kong, Hello, Love, Again does a good job of showcasing the dynamics of immigrant workers in Canada. Where it disappoints is in flipping the lessons learned the last time around in the name of generating conflict between the main characters. In Hello, Love, Goodbye, Joy was no lovesick waif—she knew what she wanted, and how to get it, which makes her depiction here somewhat of a head scratcher.
The Filipino ability to endure hardship is often euphemistically referred to as resiliency, and in the case of Joy, this could be applied to the choices she and Ethan made in the pursuit of their respective goals. Here, that so-called resiliency just makes her look like a sucker for punishment, as Ethan does little to show he deserves her affection in the first place.
This isn’t to say the acting is bad, as the performances are top-notch. Richards and Bernardo have chemistry to spare, and are able to pack more into meaningful looks and silences than any number of monologues. Where the narrative once centered around the sacrifices our OFWs make for their families, Hello, Love, Again adds a layer on how isolating being in a foreign land can be.
What made the previous movie work was the strength of its conviction in not letting the main characters have their storybook ending—it was an unconventional but a realistic take on the traditional Pinoy romantic drama dynamic, altogether affecting turn of events that elevated Ethan and Joy from lead characters into actual people. Hello, Love, Again turns that conviction on its head, taking a reductive approach to the choice Marie ultimately makes. It’s one thing that her decision stems from an elderly patient’s nostalgic dementia, but given what Ethan did to cause her crisis of faith in the first place is nigh unforgivable. Happy ending notwithstanding, it doesn’t take an expert to know that it takes more than sweeping declarations and sweet nothings to heal the wounds of a trust lost.
It's an all-too-easy out for a franchise that started on a strong footing, eschewing authenticity for instant—however fleeting—gratification. But then, maybe this was the point, and we’ll be checking in on these characters again in another five years. After all, if they were able to double back on the circumstances and characterizations of the 2019 original, who knows what surprises its possible next installment could hold?
Hello, Love, Again opens in Philippine cinemas on Nov. 13. Watch the trailer below.
