MONTES AND BERNARDO. A study in contrasts.
In Jerry Lopez Sineneng’s “Way Back Home,” Kathryn Bernardo and Julia Montes are “little lost turtles” swimming in a sea of melodrama and mush: Joanna (Bernardo) and Jessica (Montes) are estranged sisters brought back together by implausible circumstances—but, a mother’s “lukso ng dugo” instinct, with the help of a lullaby, can’t be wrong, right?
Well, that’s how things play out in Sineneng’s five-hanky drama. When Jessie is reunited with the younger sister she “lost” 12 years ago, she’s already a pretty but pouty young woman with a lifetime’s worth of insecurities and heartbreaks.
Jessie works hard to please her distant mom, Amy (Agot Isidro)—who’s insensitive enough to root for her daughter’s fiercest competitor during a swimming competition! Worse, she celebrates Joanna’s sixth-place finish in academic ranking, but couldn’t care less if her other daughter ended up in second place. —And people wonder why Jessie is such a basket case?
Affluent family
When Joanna, who grew up impoverished, finally rejoins her affluent family, it doesn’t take long for her to realize that she really hasn’t found her, uh, way back home—because the supposedly guilt-plagued Jessie hasn’t been as welcoming as Joanna thought she’d be. When the movie’s second half kicks in, it’s like seeing episodes of “Mara Clara” happening all over again—but, this time, on the big screen.
To be fair, there are a number of heartwarming scenes that break the monotony of confrontations and repetitive caterwauling—particularly, Joanna’s poignant moments with her best friend cum dream boy, Michael (the promising Enrique Gil).
Interestingly, the production’s pretty protagonists are a study in contrasts: To the delight of her fans, Kathryn plays the suffering and humiliation of her martyr-like character to the hilt, and she finds the perfect foil in Julia, who’s Cruella de Vil’s soulmate. Their difference in looks and portrayals explains why the duo’s partnership works well onscreen—they feed off each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Vulnerability
Who fares better? Julia, who drips and smolders with unspoken vulnerability even when she’s at her meanest. It’s probably not Kathryn’s failing that her character is “nice” to a fault—just the same, it’s hard to suspend disbelief that any self-respecting human being would continue to smile even after countless humiliations. Even the subservient and self-effacing screen heroines portrayed by Nora Aunor, Sharon Cuneta and Judy Ann Santos started fighting back when they couldn’t take the abuse anymore!
The film tries so hard to “pluck” at viewers’ heartstrings that it eventually ends up alienating moviegoers who crave for more insights after all that schmaltz. For “fans” and viewers who are looking for a good excuse to cry, however, the movie won’t disappoint.