The trailer of The Day After Valentine’s got me the first time I saw it, but to be honest, the film didn’t meet my expectations.
The Day After Valentine’s is just okay. I was expecting a deeper approach to self-harm (or depression in general), but the whole of it really lacked details and emotions. Trailers can be misleading sometimes, right?
Plus, this isn’t really a movie about paasa and assuming. The two made it clear that they liked each other. It’s just that one fell out of it long before it started.
The Day After Valentine’s conveys a reasonable lesson, nonetheless. It serves as a reality check that just because you’re patient about trying to fix someone, doesn’t mean they’re going to reciprocate it.
I like how they featured baybayin, but there was no deeper meaning as to why Lani and Anne (Kai’s ex) loved it. I felt it was unnecessary.
Also, I appreciated how Bela acted in this film. She’s getting better and better at delivering her lines. You can see more impact, and more emotions, compared to her past movies.
This is such a relatable line, although we shouldn’t romanticize someone else’s baggage:
The Plot
Lani “the repairman” tries to fix Kai “the broken boy”, but they’re actually both broken, to begin with.
My Honest Opinion
Like I’ve said, I didn’t feel the intensity of touching the surface of self-harming. I know that mental health conditions are a very delicate topic nowadays, but as someone who came from that crowd, I didn’t feel much impact. Note that there’s a difference between tolerating, empathizing, and romanticizing such conditions.
Some parts were unrealistic, too. I mean, how can Lani afford a trip to Hawaii with her job as a store helper? More often than not, I personally couldn’t afford a spontaneous trip even with a day job.
As for the characters, Kai and Lani were both selfish if you ask me. Lani was there for Kai when he had no one else. They remained in a platonic relationship, and there was not much kilig factor during the first hour of the movie.
If we assume that Lani had feelings for him from the very start, well, she did a great job loving him unconditionally. She waited for him to heal. But this may be the saddest, albeit selfish, thing she said:
I fixed you so dapat akin ka. – Lani
Then there goes Kai, telling her to be true to herself, breaking down her walls, but when she finally revealed all her demons, he tells her that she’s not the person he admired in the first place. He didn’t want to be involved in her brokenness. He was right, though—he shouldn’t be forced to love her back just because she fixed him.
What I really didn’t like is when Lani chose to pick up her pieces by finally going to her mom, who was already dead at the time, just so Kai would like her again. It’s a big mistake that actually happens in reality—when we heavily base our worth on someone else’s opinion.
Kai also did the same when he stayed in the Philippines for Anne. Our traditional mindset would see this as romantic, but nowadays, self-love should actually be a thing. Do it for yourself, not for others.
My major takeaway from The Day After Valentine’s is that it’s fine to ask someone for help, but we have our own choices. We shouldn’t put the weight on them because we’re all struggling the same.
At the end of the day, the only person who can heal yourself is you.
Watch the trailer here:
Overall, it’s safe to watch The Day After Valentine’s if you’re a lover of tragic, probably chaotic, films like me.
Other films to watch: