Fidel (JC Santos) falls in love with Stella (Bela Padilla) after meeting her during a freshman party. Over the next four or so years of his life he falls in love even deeper with this woman. He makes 100 poems about her, representing the words he wants to express but cannot say out loud.
100 Tula Para Kay Stella is about a kind of love that isn't covered either in local cinema that often, if at all. It's the love that springs from someone pining for someone else over long stretches of time, the affection growing year after year. It's the kind of love that eludes resolution because communicating that love is difficult (if not impossible) for the persons involved and it feels one-sided, even though that may hardly be the case. It's the kind of love that's easy to misunderstand, and telling a story based on this kind of affection is difficult. In this case, however, 100 Tula Para Kay Stella pulls it off effectively.
The movie avoids idealizing Stella as some kind of perfect girl that changes Fidel's life for the better. To scriptwriter and director Jason Laxamana's credit, he frames Stella as merely human, bound by her own frailties and screw-ups. One of my favorite moments in the film is when Fidel's poems are juxtaposed with a montage of Stella making one wrong life decision after another, reality countering her idealized image.
Though this depiction of love is relatively uncommon, I think stories like the one in 100 Tula Para Kay Stella resonate with people in very personal ways, because this story happens everywhere, to everyone. Personally speaking, this movie reflects the story of my life. Way back in 2003, I too was a shy, awkward young man. I grew infatuated with a girl, and she encouraged me to write. This blog would probably not exist if not for her goading me into writing stuff. I too decided to write my own set of short stories for her before she left, cringey stories that won't win me any Palanca awards, but stories I still think are heartfelt. I'm sure that many people in the audience had similar stories of their own, too.
100 Tula Para Kay Stella is heartfelt and earnest, probably one of my favorite Laxamana films since Magkakabaung. It's a movie about how we can create amazing things and change ourselves for love, and how love can be expressed in different ways. It offers another perspective on the myriad ways we fall in love, and says how that love comes with its own share of melancholy and heartbreak.
***
100 Tula Para Kay Stella is accompanied by the short film Farewell, which begins with the words "Sorry, Ma." Despite being five minutes max it is quite affecting, and it veers into something unexpected at the end. It's probably one of my favorite PPP shorts so far.
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