I don't know if the young people beside me in the theater when I was watching That Thing Called Tadhana knows about the Before Sunset movie trilogy and I don't know if Antoinette Jadaone was even born before the first one came out - but one look at her latest movie hit, I have this feeling that she was inspired by the set-up of those movies. Anyway, I haven't read any of her interviews (anyway, dito sa Pinas, they don't even interview directors and scriptwriters - puro yung artista and who they're dating now - kainis!!)
In the Before Sunset trilogy kasi - the set-up is - boy meets girl and then they talk and walk and talk some more and go places and talk some more and eat and laugh and talk some more - and that's all there is to the movie. No action. No outward events interfere with their talks. It's such an intimate set-up that the viewer feels like a voyeur, listening to the intimate conversation of two young people.
Here in Tadhana - they start in Rome and then Baguio then Sagada then Manila. Sa trilogy - they came from Budapest then stop in Vienna - and in the second movie - they meet again in Paris - and so on.
This movie actually has the potential of doing just that- complete a trilogy - although in Tadhana's case - they start na at the age of 28 - which in the Before Sunset trilogy - would be the second installment.
Anyway, if the stars would align and Jadaone can still come up with a beautiful script, it would be interesting to find out in 2024, the events that would happen in the lives of Anthony and Mace as they reach their mid-30's! It would be interesting to see JM and Angelica essay the roles again! I'm sure there'd be a producer somewhere interested to see how their lives unfold.
Parang Boyhood lang din, every 12 years ang filming!