‘Under Parallel Skies’ REVIEW: 2 Cute 2 Be Compelling
‘Under Parallel Skies’ REVIEW: 2 Cute 2 Be Compelling
Iris (Janelle Salvador) and Parin (Metawin Opas-iamkajorn) in Under Parallel Skies / Taken from IMDb
Sigrid Andrea Bernardo’s Under Parallel Skies relies on short moments of cuteness scattered throughout the entire film but falls short in terms of plot and character development. We follow young rich Thai boy Parin (Metawin Opas-iamkajorn) as he travels Hong Kong to find his estranged mother, only to find himself forming a romantic bond with hotel receptionist Iris (Janella Salvador).
Parin is undeniably a spoiled wreckless kid for the majority of the story. We watch him get drunk several times in the first quarter of the film, almost every time leading to Iris dragging him back to his hotel room as he is unable to remember anything the next morning. I just found it incredibly difficult to find something appealing about this character since he just seemed irresponsible and ungrateful for the first half of the film. Apart from Iris’ job, it’s unclear to me why she felt obligated to be so patient with Parin, but even then, her job shouldn’t require her patience to reach the extent it did.
The most compelling plot of this film could have been Parin’s journey in finding his mother. We are even fed memorable sound bites like “Some people don’t want to be found.” However, this plot fades as the story progresses, until the film just revolves around Parin and Iris sharing both quarrels and intimacy repeatedly, without ever showing us how these affect Parin’s chances at finding his mother.
Janella Salvador carried this film. Her reactions to everything were just so entertaining to watch. I just wish her character was granted more justice and realized that she deserved so much better. While it can be argued that her character is what drives Parin to change, this just isn’t that convincing, since the way the story is told makes it sound like he will just go back to his reckless behavior when Iris isn’t around.
Although, Janella herself did point out something which I found very admirable during the premiere night I attended. She talked about how the production did its best to shoot in non-tourist areas of Hong Kong to make the experience feel more natural. I absolutely love it when productions do this. In terms of setting, it really did feel natural, but the feeling of naturalness really fell short with the uncompelling characterization of Parin.
‘Under Parallel Skies’ premiered in theaters on April 17.
