Throwback Today: Movie Review

"Throwback Today" embodies the spirit that this year's Cinema One Originals is looking for - "Walang Takot" (Without Fear in English). With its bold take on the teen romance genre, the film that has unique premise that keeps things fresh. While it is definitely rough around the edges, "Throwback Today" has some serious depth that we totally did not expect.

Primo (Carlo Aquino), now in his early 30s, has been struggling to make ends meet. May it be love, work, finances, and even family, it seems he is on an unstoppable downward spiral to his own ruin. One day he decides to sell his old stuff online to earn some much-needed money. He soon finds his old Mac and plays around with it to check if it is still working. As he logs on to an old messaging client, he discovers that he is chatting with his former self twelve years ago. As fate would have it, Primo has now the chance to turn things around.

Let's get straight to the point, "Throwback Today" lacks polish and that's probably the only disappointing thing from the film in our opinion. Unfortunately, this affected the screenplay most. We do get glimpses of potential but this is severely affected by scenes that just fly out of nowhere. An example would be when Primo was transformed from a great student to an irresponsible one. The scene unfolds as Primo's groupmates goes hostile as he is always late on their thesis shoots. You would think that the film would then show build upon this conflict but the next scene suddenly shows Primo, now a graduate, receiving a laptop from his dad. This happened a lot of times in the film wherein there were inconsistencies from previous scenes or rushed resolutions to certain conflicts or developments. Another point to discuss is the film's unique hook - the time loop concept. "Throwback Today" builds upon this in a great way and it mostly works. It also offered a unique twist halfway through the film that simply caught us off guard. Logically, it was so-so but emotionally, it was fantastic and was an agent that made the film a lot better in its last act. On the acting department, most of the leads were great with Carlo Aquino really taking on his role as Primo by heart. Overall, there's a lot within "Throwback Today" that will make you think and ponder about the concept of changing your life in the past, present and future.

Rating: 4 reels




Why you should watch it:
- great performances from the cast
- the film had some surprises that totally caught us off guard

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- plot development felt rushed and rough