At first glance, it looks like The Day After Valentine's is an attempt by director Jason Paul Laxamana to replicate the success of last year's PPP hit 100 Tula Para Kay Stella, but the ever prolific Laxamana is far more clever than some people give him credit for. This film is a complex creature, far more than a simple hugot love story. It's about the little mistranslations inherent in relationships and also an ode to emotional healing.
Kai (JC Santos) and Lani (Bela Padilla) are first seen calling each other. Kai's standing outside the bar; Lani is standing across the road. Kai asks Lani when she will be coming; Lani answers, in fifteen minutes, even though she could be there immediately. There's something in this interplay of words, in this moment of hesitation, that communicates a lot about how people act when they are in an uncertain place in a relationship: that place where everything seems risky and people are tentative and cautious.
The film then explores Kai and Lani's relationship and its ups and downs, something that seems to follow the usual romantic movie conventions. But then things head towards a different direction entirely, and the film we get in the end becomes something beyond expectations.
The opening credits juxtapose reality with a perfect idealization: a drunken, messy dance and a perfectly choreographed sequence, much like how people idealize other people who are just as messed up and imperfect as they are. Tying into this is the importance of language in the film: Hawaiian and Baybayin frequently finds its way into the movie. While some of it is explained, a lot (especially the Baybayin words) is left untranslated. And that notion becomes a problem for both Lani and Kai, both possessing these feelings but unable to translate those feelings into actions. The film then takes us through this process, leaving us to wonder whether Kai (Sea) and Lani (Sky) will gain an understanding, or like their names' meanings, be cursed to never meet.
And the film deals a lot with pain - emotional and physical, but mostly the former - and the process of healing that pain. It makes a case about how true healing starts from one's self, and how relying on others (or an idealized version of someone else) isn't exactly the best course of action.
The film ends when both Kai and Lani have sorted out the mistranslations of their relationship - not completely, but it's a start - and it ends with a moment that proves to be emotionally profound. While it's not the film you may be expecting, The Day After Valentine's is a fascinating exploration of how we communicate with each other, and how it affects our relationships with others.
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