Open Endings!

[halfcactus]

Just got back from seeing Open Endings, a Filipino sapphic but not romance-centered movie about a group of adult women who have had romantic relationships with each other at some point in their lives and are now best friends. It's four flavors of lovers-to-friends and will-they-won't-they tension in various permutations where women get to be messy and problematic and difficult to root for but are still compelling because the focus is on how their individual personalities and decisions shape the dynamics of this friend group.

I've been waiting for the digital release since it was screened in a film festival last year... I'm so glad I got to catch a theater screening! The audience reactions to the dialogue and plot developments (a lot of audible gasps) were a community experience, it's one of those movies where you actually don't mind people talking through it. It's practically Barbie for the local sapphic community. People clapped at the end and all!

Overall, I really liked it! It's a rare combination of ensemble cast and having romance but not being a romance movie. The romance arcs that you do see unfold are extensions of their characters, overlapping relationships, and personal judgements, and even though there is one character who can be considered the "main" character for having the most complete arc (being both the biggest #yearner and the one who has to grow the most), the other characters don't feel sidelined. Everything in this movie breathes and moves and shifts from moment to moment. Also, the jokes about biphobia were very funny.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Nice! I've just watched the trailer.

[geraineon]

aaa I need to find a place to watch this!

[halfcactus]

I expect it'll come out on streaming sometime this year! You'll be happy to know that there are real love triangles/shapes and not just love angles/corners!!!

[geraineon]

You know exactly the words I love to hear! YES, REAL TRIANGLES AND NOT A SAD ANGLE!!!

[douqi]

This sounds fun! Time to beg my local arthouse cinema to show it.

[halfcactus]

I really hope it goes up on streaming (it already has English subs and all!)! It's slow and imperfect but IMO one of the more interesting additions to the Asian GL scene and the performances + cast chemistry are so alive. (Plus, from what I know, most of the main cast are queer.)