That Thing Called Tadhana

That Thing Called Tadhana
Theatrical movie poster
Directed by	Antoinette Jadaone
Produced by	Bianca Balbuena Dan Villegas
Written by	Antoinette Jadaone
Starring	Angelica Panganiban JM de Guzman
Music by	Emerzon Texon
Cinematography	Sasha Palomares
Edited by	Benjamin Gonzales Tolentino
Production company	Cinema One Creative Programs Inc.
Distributed by	Star Cinema
Release dates	November 10, 2014 (2014-11-10) (Cinema One Originals Film Festival) February 4, 2015 (2015-02-04)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Philippines
Language	Filipino English
Budget	₱2 million
Box office	₱134 million

That Thing Called Tadhana (lit. That Thing Called Fate) is a 2014 Filipino romantic comedy film starring Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman. Prior to its commercial release in 2015, it was an entry to the 2014 Cinema One Originals Film Festival where it earned top honors notably the Best Actress award for Panganiban. It is directed by Antoinette Jadaone^[1] who had worked with Panganiban in the 2014 comedy film, Beauty in a Bottle.

Plot

Mace Castillo (Angelica Panganiban) desperately struggles in unloading her excess baggage in an airport in Italy, and she cries over on how she can get an exact load limit with her baggage until Anthony (JM de Guzman) comes to her aid and offers a space in his luggage until they both check out and go back to their home country. At the airport, the two choose not to take the next cab ride and instead go somewhere. Both of them ends up singing in a karaoke bar where they sing "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" together and after a few drinks, Mace tells Anthony that she wants to go to Baguio City. On their way, Mace wakes up surprisingly that she couldn't believe herself asking Anthony to go with him and in Baguio to begin with. In the middle of the travel, they stop over a terminal station and Anthony asks Mace to go down the bus and join him to eat some snacks. Anthony buys hotdogs and sodas, where Mace presumably squeezes ketchup on Anthony's food and apologizes for doing it, because it was something that her ex-boyfriend likes her to do. Anthony mentions several different things and Mace had always something in it that reminds her of her ex. Mace remembers a friend whose deal was to pay another friend for every time she mentions her ex. For which, both decide to go for 100 pesos every time Mace mentions her Ex. Then as they reach their destination, they go to an art exhibit. While Anthony is staring at a painting, Mace discovers that Anthony has passion for art, specifically in painting. They go out to eat lunch and in the conversation, Mace reveals that she also had a thing for writing during her college years, which was titled "The Arrow with a Heart Pierced Through Him".

Cast

• Angelica Panganiban as Mace Castillo
• JM de Guzman as Anthony Lagdameo
• Joem Bascon as Marco

Production

Director Antoinette Jadaone considers That Thing Called Tadhana as her "dream project" and described it as "more than 10 years’ worth of love stories, heartaches, heartbreaks, bitterness and acceptance".^[2] The lead protagonist, Mace was first drafted during 2014 while Jadaone was filming for Relaks, It's Just Pagibig, the character had a cameo appearance in the said film but was played by Alessandra De Rossi as opposed to Panganiban.^[3] During the post production of the film, the publishers of Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" charged the production crew ₱220,000 to use the song, but by this point the ₱2 million budget they had been awarded by the film festival had been used up. Eventually, the crew asked their friends to contribute ₱500 each in exchange of being mentioned in the ending credits of the film, showing the passion behind-the-scenes.^[4][5]

Release

That Thing Called Tadhana was met with both commercial and critical success and was praised as one of the highest grossing Filipino independent film of all time, breaching ₱134 million gross revenue in under 3 weeks, despite facing piracy issues online during its run.^[6][7] It was graded "A" by the Cinema Evaluation Board and given a Rated PG by the MTRCB.^[8][9]

Critical reception

ClickTheCity.com's Philbert Ortiz Dy praised the film by giving a 5 stars out of 5 rating. He writes:

That Thing Called Tadhana strips romance down to its core. Our movies have become needlessly complicated. They are stories about people from different worlds, overcoming incredible odds to end up kissing each other in the end. This movie, on the other hand, is just about two people spending time with each other, slowly falling in love. It is about just needing someone to be there when you can’t bring yourself to finish the song you’re singing at karaoke. It’s about the simple, beautiful feeling of having somebody to keep the song going.^[10]

Oggs Cruz of Rappler writes in a positive review:

Antoinette Jadaone’s That Thing Called Tadhana relishes the simplicity of its premise. It never strays towards the unlikely situations that most romantic comedies rely on for pageantry. The film keeps its feet firmly grounded within the realm of reality.

With convincing performances from Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman, the film effortlessly evokes both the palpable pain of losing love and the alluring pleasure of gaining it back.^[11]

Accolades

References

External links

• That Thing Called Tadhana at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Trailer on YouTube