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| 'Hello, Love, Goodbye' became the Philippines' all-time box office hit in 2019 |
A movie that chronicles the life and struggles of Filipinos working in Hong Kong was shown on Friday, September 13 at Emperor Cinemas in Central, as the Philippines’ main entry in the Asean Film Festival 2024.
“Hello, Love, Goodbye” which earned a total of US$17.4 million and shattered all Philippine box
office records when it was first shown in 2019, stars two of the country’s most
popular stars, Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards.
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Consul General Germinia Aguilar-Usudan who was among
about 100 people who attended the private screening, said she hoped the movie
would “bring a better understanding of the aspirations of Filipino workers and
create a better appreciation of the personal sacrifices they have to endure to
achieve their goals.”
Co-hosting the event was the Hong Kong Asean Foundation led by its chief executive officer Charles Chia and chairman Daryl Ng.
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In the movie, Bernardo plays the role of Joy, a nurse who decided to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong so she could provide for the needs of her father and two siblings back in the Philippines while saving money to pursue her dream of going to Canada.
Joy, like many domestic workers in Hong Kong, hopes to
move on to another country where she could be given residency and bring her
family along, privileges that are not available to them in the city.
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To pursue her dream, she hustles on the side, selling
gadgets and other stuff on her day off, and when her employer fell on hard
times and could only pay her half her salary, took up an offer to work the
nights as a dishwasher in a bar.
There she meets Richards’ Ethan, a bartender who
strings girls along to make up for losing his first girlfriend whom he followed
to the United States, but was forced to leave behind when he was deported for
overstaying.
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| Kathryn is Joy, who dreams of moving on to Canada from HK |
Ethan’s murky status as a 20-something dependant
waiting to become a permanent resident leaves some questions in mind for people
familiar with the intricacies of Hong Kong’s immigration laws, but still
provides a good counterpoint for Joy’s dilemma.
On the other hand, the predicament of Joy’s battered mother
(ably performed by Maricel Pangilinan) who married a local Chinese so she could
become a permanent resident and eventually bring her family over from the
Philippines, raises a lot of question and could have been left out of the movie
altogether.
While past movies that touched on the problems of
migrant workers in Hong Kong tended to be melodramatic like “Anak” and “Sunday
Beauty Queen,” “Hello, Love” tried to balance the picture by among other
things, showing an employer that is compassionate, and parodying beauty
contests which in reality, often lead to financial woes for OFW participants.
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| Kathryn and Alden posing in front of the iconic 'monster building' in Quarry Bay |
It is a movie screaming for a sequel and predictably, Star Cinema did not waste time fulfilling the promise, especially after Bernardo
and Richards started becoming romantically linked. The follow-up film, “Hello, Love, Again” which is again
directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, has just finished filming in Canada and is
expected to be shown in Philippine cinemas in November.
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| Another rare happy scene in the blockbuster movie |
(Two other movies set in the Philippines are also being shown as part of the Asean Film Festival: K'na the Dreamweaver which was filmed in South Cotabato and is dubbed in the T'boli dialec with English subtitles, was shown on Sept 14 at Asia Society Hong Kong Center ; and "The Missing", the Philippines' first animated film to be submitted to the Oscars for best international feature is in Filipino with English subtitles, and is scheduled to be screened at the M+ Cinema on Sept 14 at 4:30pm and on Sept 22 (Sunday) at 5:30pm. For more information, visit www.aseanfilmfest.org)
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