'SO CONNECTED’ had a special screening in Gateway last Monday. At the outset, let us say that Janella Salvador seems to have much more pleasing chemistry with Jameson Blake on screen than with her erstwhile partners, Elmo Magalona and Marlo Mortel.
The story is the usual boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl but, as may be expected, they’re reunited at the film’s end. The movie is written and directed by young and hip filmmaker Jason Paul Laxamana who gives the familiar story an appealing new dressing. He makes sure that the story is something young people will be able to relate with. He makes liberal use of social media and internet online apps for them to be a vital part of the narrative.
Janella is Trisha, an orphan girl from Paete who is hiding from the public after an embarrassing incident in her life was posted online. She leaves their home province and finds work as a waitress in a carinderia in Angeles City. Jameson is Karter, a video editor for a you tube channel who was just dumped by his girlfriend after he lost the phone she gave him. The phone was stolen and sold at a very cheap price to Janella who then uses it to send messages and videos to her boyfriend who lives in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.
Jameson is fascinated with Janella’s post and decides to search for her to meet her in person. He goes to Angeles City to look for her and meets her serendipitously when he throws litter on the street and she reprimands him for it. He then takes cues from Janella’s post to get her attention and win her confidence. She eventually warms up to him and even thinks they’re soulmates.
But as this kind of story goes, Janella eventually discovers that he is actually just stalking her through the Store Box app and gets mad at him. But take heart, folks, as Jameson is very patient in looking for her and yes, they do meet again for a happy ending after some time. Direk Jason make sure the production values are topnotch, with a beautiful sequence of the young lovers while they’re visiting the touristy spots in the island of Corregidor. He also pays a loving tribute to his home city of Angeles which is prominently featured in the movie. As the movie opens today, we are glad to hear during the press preview that Janella has tried to patch things up with her estranged mom, Jenine Desiderio, and even sent her a gift as a peace offering. Here’s hoping that this gesture of smoking the peace pipe will give the movie some positive vibes so that people will go to the theaters to watch it.
