George: “Hindi ka na pwedeng bumalik dito, wala ka ng karapatan. You left, remember?”
Primo: “Pinaalis mo ako. Magkaiba ‘yun!”
George: “Pero umalis ka naman. Now, leave!

-Lines from the movie.

Currently a blockbuster hit with more than 400 million peso gross, another kathniel (Love team consists of Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla) romantic drama is hitting all the local and international cinemas.

Directed by one of the most talented directors in the film history of the Philippines, Cathy Garcia-Molina, the movie is one of the most anticipated film of the year.

I’m not gonna raise any points yet, but this will be my first moview of a Filipino film (OPM- Original Pinoy Movie…hahaha you see what I did there? Yaaas!)

Please take this opportunity to discontinue reading if you haven’t watched the film yet, because I’m going to give this review a genuine, bop-to-the-top review. Kindly read at your own risk.

Curious yet? I know, I just watched this yesterday and I think it did me some good thinking, you know?

Okay, you took at risk and so, I will provide you information.

Summary: The Hows of Us is a movie about a couple, namely George (an aspiring med student) Primo (a passionate musician) who has been facing the different odds of life. As they grow their relationship together, two have discovered each other’s good and bad sides. After George’s grandmother passed away, both inherited her grandmother’s house and from there, they started their little mansion and happy life. However, not everything is all about happiness, with Primo’s failures in his craft, George had to struggle and face all the problems alone which led to their separation.

After years of no communication, Primo suddenly comes back to their house, trying his luck to get back with George but he was too late because George is rather moving on with her own life, not to mention her plans on getting the house for sale too. With nothing on his hand but a legal proof, Primo is fighting George not to sell the house as they both are the legal owners.

Due to other circumstances in the movie, Primo initiated the plan of living in the house with George until they sell it. George agreed only to certain conditions, sell the house and leave her right after they find a serious buyer.

By living together, two discovers what happened to each other while they were away and what happened after the break up, which led to some serious confronting shit and you know how it goes…

Actors:

Kathryn Bernardo on playing George, I would say, she nailed it this time. Her acting is much better than she was before. It was more natural and not trying so hard to play the character. I’ve seen some of their movies but I’m not that impressed of her acting before, but now, yeah, totally nailed it! And she is such a piece…she is so beautiful like, I wanna be like that when I’m crying. She is so far, aside from Angel Locsin, the celebrity who looks very Filipina to me.

Daniel Padilla as Primo, was like Heath Ledger in 10 things I hate about you, he is more mature that I expected. Well, like I said, both of them are. I liked how he played it all so not of his age. He played as if he was like a 30-year-old man, trying to fix his life. There’s no teen-inside that glowed up in his eyes nor in his actions compared from his previous films. I’d say he kept his cool in this movie. I liked the attack of the movie so much and I liked how the actors played their roles as if it was their story.

Darren Espanto as Yohan, has moved me so much more in the movie, as a recently diagnosed diabetic myself, I felt like his role has captured so many hearts, well, so many diabetics as well; because living with one is really a tough luck. The whole story of him going blind is just as painful as for him wanting to meet his dad before he even goes blind. (Yes! we can go blind because of sugar, y’all.) Darren is surprisingly good and I guess he deserves the limelight too.

Story Line:

The story is a total cliche, however dragging. The story relates to so many failed relays out there.

There are so many films (international) which had the same points on creating stories about break-ups. I’m not saying they copied any but as I was watching the film, I already guessed how it will end, like okay, ex-couples gonna live together and I’m sure…boom! in love again. (I don’t really get impressed easily when it comes to films so that makes me hard to please.)

I hate to compare it with my most favorite Filipino movie of all time which was One More Chance, played by Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz, which was directed by the same director as well. I think this movie gave the people a lot of reasons to compare The Hows of Us against One More Chance. (But it’s only me though)

One More Chance is one of the break up films that became really intact with the viewers, it gave a serious damaged to us, viewers because the story line happened to most of us, the lines used were just so perfect for the film that everyone felt like they are the ones telling those hurtful lines in real life. The Hows of Us, is just in between so-so and great. It felt like the lines were made for the film itself, like it was constructed out of tenuity, like it’s lacking lots of creative substance. I felt more affected (until now) by One More Chance compare to this one.

One more thing I noticed was, they didn’t give emphasis on what actually happened on Primo’s side. I felt like they focused more on George’s side. I’d love to know if the gig that was missed by Primo was supposed to be their big break, I kind of knitted some story line in my head that Primo sacrificed things as well, he chose to be with George the time when her grandmother was rushed to the hospital rather than playing with his band, causing him to lose all the opportunities lined up for them which led them to disband.

The ending is quite realistic though, but since I was not in the element of surprise anymore, I just got curious how they will push it without being so cocky nor peachy.

I liked how the letter was hidden in Primo’s birthday gift, thinking that if George just opened the gift during the night Primo gave it to her and not acted so cocky about receiving an old record, they could’ve saved the relationship from that day but since it was movie, it was yeah, I liked how that ended and got me going.

Realizations after the movie:

We get tired of everything but we have two choices in life; Fight for it or Comeback later for it. Holding on, is better if two people are both in the same position but letting go is better if one of them just don’t know how to grow anymore.

Giving chances to someone who left you behind is a risk. Either you let them comeback and take a step forward with them or don’t let the past drag you down again.

Taking risk is like a rain in the desert, you may not know when it will come but still, you are willing to wait. If you take the risk, you should know that there will be the good and the bad side of it.

When the going gets tough…never run. Never let your problems swallow you and make you feel broken and helpless. If you’re a couple, fight like a couple. Never let the other one let go. Try your best to make them feel you’re still there with them fighting.

Make sure you have friends who can push you to do things and friends who can stop you from doing something that will ruin your future. Have that balance in your life, they maybe just your friends but they can also help you think twice before dropping everything or making a twisted decision.

When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade out of it. No matter how tough the problem you both are facing, be optimistic. There’s no problem you cannot solve if you have an optimistic mind. In case you fail on your plan A, there’s still plan B to Z. That only means, you should keep going.

All in all, the movie was great but not that amusing as the other movies I’ve watched before, although the acting from Kathniel is really beyond expectations. They’ve grown mature for their roles and I think it was the biggest change they have offered their viewers. From teenage romance films, they have pulled this film a little higher and better.

I’d like to give this movie 85% wonderroanne rating.