There's a trap hiding inside every great relationship: sometimes what you got from it was so good that you still want some of it in your life even when the relationship is over. That, however, has the unintended consequence of allowing buried feelings to resurface. If you're unable to let go of those feelings in the first place and truly move on, the trap is set.
Open Endings is an example of that trap in motion, existing in some way for each of its four protagonists: Charlie (Janella Salvador) starts the film with a break up, which causes all sorts of break-up related issues, but she soon has other buried feelings start to bubble up when her best friend (and ex) Hannah (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) announces something major and life-changing. The announcement shakes up the lives of Hannah and Charlie's other friends (and ex gfs) Mihan (Leanne Mamonong) and Kit (Klea Pineda). See, Mihan's still hung up on Hannah but can't bear to tell her her true feelings, while Charlie, in her post-breakup funk is beginning to catch feelings for Mihan. Kit, on the other hand, who has issues settling into a stable relationship, starts to catch feelings for Charlie.
The four protagonists of Open Endings navigate this relationship landscape in the larger context of a society that isn't quite ready to accept those relationships yet. Instead of making the reactions to their existence too much of a point, the film dwells instead on their lived experiences as regular people, often accomplished in their respective careers. Open Endings also shows the spectrum of ways people express their respective identities, not bound to any monolithic definition of a woman who loves women.
With a punchy and witty script that's never boring, an excellent ensemble that brings different things to the table and all around polish, there's much to like about the film. I can see a larger release for this after the festival concludes.
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