A Story to Remember (2023)

A story to forget

Directed by Rafael D. Duterte and produced by Take One Studio, 'A Story to Remember' revolves around Raver and Ford, two childhood best friends who were separated by fate, but whose lives will definitely intersect again through music.
The youth romantic drama begins by telling the childhood of two friends, Raver, played by RJ Buena, and Ford, a role assumed by ZK Nakaoka, who, together, dream of managing and owning a restaurant. Then, the story jumps in time to take us, about 15 years later, to a new scenario in which the first is an unemployed musician looking for work, and the second is the owner of a bar on the verge of bankruptcy.
Needing to improve the situation, someone recommends Ford hire a musician who can sing live and attract more customers. This is how the two childhood friends will meet again, after having taken different paths when they were just children.
The leading couple will be joined by another boys, that of Andrei and Jayson, played by Garry Herrera and Aerone Mendoza, in that order, while the GL side will show a romantic story between Sofía (Dianne Santillán) and Jazmine (Jerica Dagohoy) .
The growing fascination with Pinoy Boy's Love (BL) series, such as 'Gameboys', 'Hello Stranger', 'Boys' Lockdown', 'Gaya Sa Pelikula', 'Hello, stranger', 'Boys' Lockdown' and 'Quaranthings' , among others, can be interpreted as part of the LGBT+ community's long struggle for greater inclusion.
However, 'A Story to Remember', with multiple queer characters and stories, despite exploring many relevant themes with the aim of educating and raising awareness among viewers, shows conflicts that, in addition to perpetuating stereotypes, barely touch the surface. rather than highlighting complex experiences.
A series with a simple story, with predictable twists, a very basic and unoriginal plot, uninspiring and poorly developed characters, an erratic staging and weak performances cannot be saved even with the presence of beautiful boys; the views of beautiful locations, such as the paradisiacal Philippine beaches where the search for the mother of one of the two protagonists will take us in the audiovisual, or the representation of three romances, two between boys and one lesbian.
'A Story to Remember' is an accumulation of whims, provocations and excesses without much meaning. Neither separately nor as a whole, none of the six characters will be able to make the viewer fall in love. They will not make us identify with them or their stories and destinies, since their characterizations seem like cardboard formulas that will not obtain the viewer's empathy. Nice actors and actresses? Just that, because there is no connection between them. Therefore, there can be no difference between them and the viewer.
Despite setting out to deal with themes such as love, acceptance, discovery, as well as the challenges that come with being queer in today's world, the series becomes repetitive and is not even able to leave the feeling that it could have given more, since its Creators chose to resort to the cliché of gay cinema with its stereotyped characters.
Unfortunately, this is not the first failure of the team behind it in its efforts to produce a BL series. The current production company Take One Studios began its journey under the name of YTteamcavite. With this brand he produced his first boy love drama titled 'The Unexpected', which disappeared after only three episodes on the air. Later, he took up the story and differentiated it from the original by retitling it 'Unexpected: The Remake', of which only the first episode could be seen.
The company reappeared some time later under the name Cosmix Films, announcing a new BL project, this time called 'Bed Weather'. After proposing its premiere four times, the production company finally canceled the series, of which not even the pilot episode was broadcast.

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