That Thing Called Tadhana (2015)

Love Never Loves the Same Way Twice!

While Love is unconditional, constant, and unchanging, the WAY we love is always different. People should hopefully take comfort in the fact that that makes, not only way you love someoone unique, but YOU unique as well.

Unfortunately, people tend to also forget that many relationships are finite. It's been said, "It is interesting to note that people can easily recognize when a relationship begins, but are unable or unwilling to recognize when a relationship ends."

Mace is a broken-hearted young woman coming off an 8-year relationship with her boyfriend who is living in Rome. Angelica Panganiban plays the role so realistically, you can feel her anger, frustration, and sense of loss. I would wager than anyone, who has ever been where she is, has felt exactly how she feels.

Anthony is a young man also returning home from Rome, and he sees Mace struggling to lighten her suitcase in order to meet the weight criteria. He decides to help her. He's also there through her rants and outbursts, but somehow, we get the sense that he understands her plight.

This is a film that reminded me a lot of "Before Sunrise," a brilliant movie where two people walk around Vienna getting to know each other. However, in this case, it's about two people spending time together, helping each other to heal. While Mace's hurts are recent, we discover that Anthony is also carrying some old hurts and regrets as well, but he's able to find ways to help Mace.

Angelica Panganiban and JM De Guzman are simply brilliant, and more importantly, real. They know their characters inside and out, and they are also very relatable. They could easily be anyone who has been where they are, and because the story is told in such a realistic tone, it works tremendously well.

Perhaps Mace will realize that making someone else the center of your life is always a disaster waiting to happen. Unless you love yourself first, you cannot give what you do not have. Relationships are never about finding someone to complete you. They are always about sharing your completeness with someone else. That is the secret!.

In any case, you learn from past relationships to find what you want in future relationships. And hopefully, when a relationship ends, you are grateful to that person for the time spent and wish them all the best as they continue their own journey.

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If you watched and listened carefully, you’ll notice the metaphor about the excess baggage referring to the failed relationship. It stated about Mace’s situation of having all her life in her bags while Anthony’s situation says that he’s been there and willing to share the weight of someone in need. But all throughout, there are many signals and signs where in reality we do not see – manhid lang – or sometimes ignore – tanga lang.

Besides that, I also adored the lengthy conversations both characters did throughout the film. In order to know more about or understand someone, all you need is good, healthy communication. Each word they utter digs deeper and by the time they became comfortable with each other, the silence was not a problem.

Of all the Filipino films I have watched, I think this film has a fair share of unforgettable lines, words of wisdom, not to mention, the hugot moments.

Though That Thing Called Tadhana is a story about two strangers meeting, becoming friends and mending a broken heart, it is not overly dramatic. It simply tells what each character has in mind just like anyone whose heart has been broken.

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