To be honest, the story's no different from most rom-coms in the Philippines. Boy meets girl(in this case boy), they fall in love. And the filmmakers even acknowledge this. The only difference with this story is that, it shows the struggles of queer love and identity. And this is why it's effective. It normalizes queer stories by patterning it into your everyday love story tropes, while showing the audience how much difficult it is for queer people to love more than cis-heteros. I felt seen by the story. And knowing that it was handled by a team of mostly queer people definitely adds to that feeling.
As for the actors, it was almost perfect, but I just found bits and pieces that were either underacted or unnecessarily overacted, which maybe intentional because it is a rom-com, but still irked me. The emotional scenes were amazing. I can't take my eyes off of Ian and Pao even if they're not saying anything.And to think that this is one of their first projects on-screen. I also loved how Yesh did that single mother monologue and that ending scene monologue. Best supporting actress for me!!! The supporting actors basically didn't feel as if they're supporting actors. They contributed to the artistry of the story as much as the mains did.
The music was A+mazing! They knew when and where to put in music. Kudos to Pat Lasaten for this. Plus, it made a great playlist.
All-in-all, it was a story that speaks to you, and telling and sharing it is necessary.
Bonus: The chemistry of Ian and Pao even off-cam is astronomical, and the team felt as if the fans were their family. :)
Edit: I am sorry Gege(JMS, the writer), but I just watched ITSAY, and I had to change some of the scores her, but still 10/10 overall for me.