MMFF 2023: Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon’s ‘When I Met You in Tokyo’

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Vilma Santos (left) and Christopher de Leon —JG PRODUCTIONS

(We are running this guide to help you plan your movie-viewing activity during the holidays. The 49th Metro Manila Film Festival, or MMFF, Christmas Edition runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7, 2024.)Directed by Rado Peru and Rommel Penza; written by Suzette Doctolero; starring Vilma Santos, Christopher de Leon, Cassy Legaspi, Darren Espanto, Lotlot de Leon, Gina Alajar and Kakai Bautista; produced by JG Productions.

The film is about the love between Azon (Santos) and Joey (De Leon), who promised himself to never fall in love again after being betrayed by his ex-wife. When he meets Azon, he opens up his heart again, only to discover after a few blissful years together that the woman he cares for is dealing with an age-related debilitating disease, something that will break his heart once more.

“This project was really a team effort. [Christopher and I] made sure to express our opinion in all the scenes we shot. This was to make sure they were age-appropriate. We also didn’t want the film to be too emotionally heavy for the audience. It’s a very simple love story that deals with forgiveness and moving on with life,” said Santos.

The film was originally meant to be shot in Italy but De Leon said they opted to use the colorful and photo-worthy Japan as backdrop instead. “We shot some scenes in the beautiful countryside. This was supposedly in Italy, where many OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) reside, but we realized that we will just be seeing the same things. Japan, on the other hand, is so colorful because of the cherry blossoms. There, every season has its own color.” —MARINEL CRUZ INQ