Movie Review: Letters to Juliet

I have always been fascinated with Italy. It seems a very romantic and adorable place. From what I see in movies, Italy has a certain charm that captivates almost everyone. With its country wine vineyards, cobblestone walkways, palatable dishes and beautiful language, who would not fall in love with it AND in it.

Shot in Verona, Italy, Letters to Juliet is as endearing as the country view of Italy. Starring Amanda Seyfried, of Mama Mia and Chloe, the movie tells of a story of finding your one true love and fulfilling the promise of a love once lost.

An article published in Manila Times, a Philippine broadsheet, aptly describes and sets the tone of what the movie is all about:

The One That Got Away
(Mark J. Macapagal, The Manila Times)

In your life, you’ll make note of a lot of people. Ones with whom you shared something special and ones who will always mean something. There’s the one you first kissed, the one you first loved, the one you lost your virginity to, the one you put on a pedestal, the one you’re with…and the one that got away.

Who is the one that got away? I guess it’s that person with whom everything was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong. There was no fault in the person nor flaw in the chemistry, but the cards just didn’t fall the right way, I suppose.

I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a longtime partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do with the matter of timing. It has to do with you being ready to settle down and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of giddy romance.

How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When you’re not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn’t matter who you’re with, it just doesn’t work. Small problems become big; inconsequential become deal breakers simply because you’re not ready and it shows. It’s not that you and the person you’re with are no good; it’s just that it’s not yet right, and little things become the flashpoint of that fact.

Then one day you’re ready. You really are. And when this happens you’ll be ready to settle down with someone. He or she may not be the most perfect, they might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in your life, but it’ll work because you’re ready. It’ll work because it’s the right time and you’ll make it work. And it’ll make sense, it really will.

So that day comes when you’re finally making sense of things, and you find yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want and you’ve become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you, there’s no telling when this day will come. Hopefully, you’re single or be in a long-term relationship, or be married with three kids…it doesn’t matter. All you know is that you have changed. And for some reason, the one that got away, is the first person you think about.

You’ll think about them because you’ll wonder, “What if they were here today?” , “What if we were together now, with me as I am and not as I was?” .The one that got away is– the biggest “What if?” you’ll have in your life.

If you’re married, you’ll just have to accept the fact that the one that got away, got away. Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think your marriage is, this can happen to the best of us. But hopefully you’re mature enough to realize that you’re already with the one you’re with and this is just another test of your commitment, one which will just strengthen your marriage when you get past it. Sure, you’ll think about him/her every so often, but it’s alright. It’s never nice to live with a “might have been,” but it happens.

Maybe the one that got away is the one who’s already married. In which case it’s the same thing. You just have to accept and know that your memories of that person will probably bring a nice little smile to your lips in the future when you’re old and gray and reminiscing.

But if neither of that is the case, then it’s different. What do you do if it’s not yet too late? Simple –find him or find her. The very existence of a “one that got away” means that you’ll always wonder…what if you got that one? Ask him out to coffee. Ask her out to a movie. It doesn’t matter if you’ve dropped in from out of nowhere. You’d be surprised, you just might be “the one that got away” as well for the person who is your “the one that got away.” You might drop in from out of nowhere and it won’t make a difference. If the timing is finally right, it’ll all just fall into place somehow. It would be a great feeling in the end, to be able to say to someone, “Hey you, you’re the one that almost got away.”

To watch the movie, click to play on the video below:

"'What' and ‘if’ are nonthreatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: ‘What if?' 

'What If?'

 What If I don't know how your story ended. But if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true, then it why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart.

 I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like. A love to leave loved ones for. A love to cross oceans for. But I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, I would have the courage to seize it. 

 And if you didn't, I hope one day that you will." 

- Letters to Juliet, 2010

Intramuros Walk

This is a late post already but thought to still write about this.

Last February 6, my officemates and I went to Intramuros to  tour our foreign business counterparts who . This was my first time to get inside the walled city of Manila and visit the Spanish-inspired structures and buildings.

My officemates and I decided to meet at the office (Petron Megaplaza) around 8am. When everyone was already in, I then went to the Manila Peninsula Hotel to fetch Tami and Adrian, our foreign guests. We rode a cab going to Intramuros. While on the car, I acted like a tour guide inside the taxi and started blabbering and explaining about the streets and areas where our taxi passed by. :) 

It was around 930am when we arrived at the Manila Cathedral Church. We started the tour inside the Manila Cathedral Church. I got to see the tour group of Carlos Celdran. We originally planned to joined the Celdran tour but decided against it at the last minute because it was a bit pricey for us. We were all on budget mode that time. :) So to improvise, Angeli, one of my officemates, acted as the official tour guide for the group. ;)

The Manila Cathedral is a really majestic church and through time, it has preserved the Spanish colonization influences in the structure. When we went there, there was an exhibit that was going on and we were able to read the history of the Manila Cathedral Church and the Catholic Church as a whole.

 

 

Above are some of the pictures that I got from inside the Manila Cathedral Church. After about an hour, we decided to leave the Manila Cathedral Church and head off to Fort Santiago. 

The Fort Santiago was where the richest Spaniards lived during the Spanish occupation in the Philippines. It was brick-walled and you can still see the opulent design of the garden and houses inside. There were also several Fort Santiago staff who were role-playing and dressed as guardia-sibils and roaming the fort. I was able to get some shots inside the Fort and capture the scenery and garden inside.

   

It was already lunch time when we left The Fort Santiago. Since we were all starving already from the walk, we then decided to grab lunch at Greenwich.

After a sumptuous meal, we resumed our Intramuros tour and went to the San Agustin Church and Museum. But there was a wedding that was ongoing. That's why we were not able to get inside the church and museum.

We then headed off to Casa Manila which was an apartment for affluent students during the Spanish colonization. Picture taking was prohibited inside the Casa that's why I was not able to take some shots with me. But the furniture and the furnishings inside the Casa were all very intricate and grand. It showed signs of affluence and granduer. 

After a good 30 minute tour inside the Casa, we all decided to cap off our tour and went back to the Manila Cathedral Church.

Above is one of my favorite shots from the tour where it shows the grand facade of the Manila Cathedral Church. If i hadn't known, I would have mistaken it as one of the churches in Europe.

The tour that we had in Intramuros, Manila brought me back to my history and made me appreciate more what the FIlipino heroes did to emancipate our country from the Spanish rule.

Above all, our foreign guests enjoyed the tour very much and had a wonderful time. Below is a picture of my IDS team with Tami Scheben, our counterpart in Cincinnati (L-R Jeline, Tami, Christiane, me).

Below is the picture of everyone in the tour.