written and directed by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo
I haven't done the math, but I'm reasonably certain that in the 100-plus years or so that movies have existed as a medium of storytelling, a healthy percentage of the stories told have been love stories of one kind or another, which means that anyone looking to tell such a story will almost certainly never be able to tell a story that hasn't been told before. That's why I applaud even just an effort to tell a different love story, which is certainly what Sigrid Andrea Bernardo and her dedicated cast and crew have done with the charming romantic comedy Kita Kita.
Lea (Alessandra de Rossi) a young Filipina living and working as a tour guide in Sapporo, Japan, has trouble getting her longtime fiance Nobu to actually commit to a wedding date. He has made a habit out of forgetting their anniversary and frequently standing her up. She learns, to her shock, that this is because he's cheating on her with another woman, and the discovery proves too much for her to bear; she literally goes blind from the stress. Not too long thereafter, Lea is sitting quietly on the terrace outside her house when she is visited by her neighbor, fellow Filipino Tonyo (Empoy Marquez) who, after being repeatedly rebuffed by her, manages to befriend Lea. His multiple attempts to get her to eat his FIlipino cooking finally succeed when she agrees to eat his sour broth, or sinigang, as we call it in the vernacular. As Lea takes Tonyo, who is new to Sapporo, to the many places to go, their friendship helps bring back some light into the darkness that has shrouded Lea's life, and she finds that she may yet love again.
If the plot description reads like a bunch of romantic story tropes strung together to form yet another tired old romantic comedy, then good; the best way to watch this movie is to go in thinking you know exactly what's going to happen, only to find out that you don't.
The first thing that really struck me about this movie was how utterly authentic it felt, and this was down to Bernardo's writing and some winning lead actors in De Rossi and Marquez. De Rossi, dubbed by some writers as the "Indie Film Queen" really shines in movies like this, and despite her towering stature and striking good looks, she projects her characters as being very down to earth. Marquez, who up until this point has basically made a career out of being somebody else's sidekick or comic relief, finally comes into his own as Tonyo, the broken-English speaking Filipino overseas worker who has more in common with de Rossi's Lea than she realizes at first. Their time together onscreen is most of the movie's running time, and they make good use of it thanks to some wonderful dialogue by Bernardo (though one wonders if Marquez did a bit of improv considering his comedy background), and some palpable chemistry. The foreign setting definitely helps, as it helps highlight the sense of loneliness both characters feel so far away from home, and although Bernardo certainly isn't the first writer to adopt this particular backdrop, she uses it very effectively.
More than just tell yet another love story, though, Bernardo weaves a touching tale about the healing power of kindness. It's not quite groundbreaking and in fact it's the second movie I've seen in a fortnight or so using non-linear storytelling, but as someone I know observed Bernardo makes very good use of her storytelling technique. She's very efficient; almost every little detail early in the story pays off in the end, and it all ties up remarkably well. There are seams in the production, though, and one pivotal scene I can think of wasn't presented very artfully. Furthermore, while I get that the director probably chose the song because she liked it, I found her use of Air Supply's "Two Less Lonely People" at key points of the movie to be distinctly cloying and manipulative, a pet peeve of mine, especially in movies meant to evoke a strong emotional response. The narrative, I honestly think, could have held up on its own without it, and a proper score should have been employed instead, or better yet, perhaps an original Filipino composition.
Still, this movie, which had initially been slated for release in a film festival, was a surprisingly sweet confection, and it deserves the success it is garnering right now. May there be many movies made with the same sensibility and production value on display here.
8.5/10
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