TV & Film
LOVE IS everywhere, even in the halls of our universities.
They say college is where we find ourselves, but more often than not, it’s also where we find love. Not just the kind that sweeps us off our feet, but the kind that changes us—for better or worse. It could be a bond that lasts a lifetime, the thrill of a gut-wrenching situationship, or the comfort found in friendships that become our chosen families.
This season of love, let’s take a walk through iconic Filipino films that capture the highs and lows of love within the familiar walls of our universities, showing us that love takes on many forms.
Friends to Lovers: Labs Kita… Okey Ka Lang? (1998)
What happens when you fall for the one person you cannot afford to lose?
Set against the misty and dreamy scenery of University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio, Labs Kita… Okey Ka Lang? tells a story of love that treads the fine line between platonic and romantic. Ned (Marvin Agustin) and Bujoy (Jolina Magdangal) share everything, including a bond so effortless that love—real, messy, and uncertain—feels like a risk too big to take.
The film encapsulates the pain of wanting someone who’s always been there, but never quite in the way you want them to be. However, as the story unfolds, love gradually finds its way, with two people realizing that no matter how much they try to fight it, they are meant to be more than just friends.
Unrequited Love: I’m Drunk, I Love You (2017)
Alcohol and college students are a fitting pair, and I’m Drunk, I Love You unites that combo with a tale of unrequited love. Protagonists Carson (Maja Salvador) and Dio (Paulo Avelino) set off on a road trip just days prior to their graduation from UP Diliman to finally settle their actual feelings for each other, once and for all.
With alcohol as a driving force, the movie careens into a medley of Carson’s earnest pining, self-reflection, and a lot of Original Pinoy Music (OPM). If you are in your one-sided love era (We’ve all been there, right?), then maybe it is time to take that shot and open up. However, if all hope seems lost, letting go may be the healthiest path.
Slow and Patient Love: Radio Romance (1996)
Before freedom walls and anonymous online confessions, there were radio dedications— a form of love sent through the airwaves and carried by songs.
Set in De La Salle University, Radio Romance brings us back to a time when love unfolded in the pauses between tracks and in letters passed by hands rather than screens. This is the Love Actually (2003) of the Philippines—only instead of Christmas lights; the air is filled with Valentine’s Day serenades playing over the radio.
What makes Radio Romance so special is that it shows us a kind of love that feels almost lost today: the kind that takes its time. It makes you long for a world where people put their phones down, turn the dial on a radio, and let love unfold in its own perfect, unrushed way.
Unexpected Love: Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (2011)
Sometimes it takes an unexpected person, situation, or interest to open you up to new sides of yourself. In Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, all three converge for Far Eastern University student Marlon (Paulo Avelino) as he explores the new passions that have entered his life.
Ang Sayaw is not just a typical love story. Beyond the tense and dramatic love triangle, it is a movie detailing a single mother’s struggles, the push-and-pull between two men, and one’s unexpected yearning for art. It tells us that love can also mean discovering yourself and your passions, no matter how “late” it seems.
Second Chances: One More Chance (2007)
It is said that the love that burns bright can also burn out. Few Filipino romances have left a cultural impact as deep as One More Chance. Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) and Basha’s (Bea Alonzo) love story is not the slow, simmering kind; it’s fiery, passionate, and often destructive.
Once college sweethearts at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), Popoy and Basha, build a life together, working at the same construction firm and holding on to the belief that love is enough—until it’s not.
In the end, One More Chance is about losing yourself in love, finding your way back, and eventually realizing that sometimes, you have to break apart to come back stronger.
A Loving Circle: Moral (1982)
A barkada is a staple in every Filipino’s life. Whether big or small, they have an undeniable impact on our lives.
In Moral, the friend group consisting of Joey (Lorna Tolentino), Kathy (Gina Alajar), Sylvia (Sandy Andolong), and Maritess (Anna Marin) bond together over challenges that affect their time at UP Diliman. Dealing with issues such as gender inequality, abortion, and homosexuality, the film takes us through a vignette of each woman’s life as they struggle with these new ideas against the backdrop of Martial Law era Manila.
While we hope your college experience is not fraught with the darker parts of life like in Moral, there is still something to learn from the group’s spirit and their willingness to stick with each other even when the going gets tough. It shows that love extends beyond traditional romantic relationships—it can serve as the foundation of deep and enduring friendships.
Unfinished Love Story: Para Sa Hopeless Romantic (2015)
Remember when teachers would scold you for writing on the desk? Well, some people found love by breaking that rule (Not that you should do it!). In Para sa Hopeless Romantic, love is not just in grand gestures or well-written stories. It’s messy, unpredictable, and at times, frustrating. But isn’t that what love is all about?
Set in the halls of Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the film highlights the unfiltered intersection of romance and reality. It follows the intertwined lives of Nikko (James Reid) and Becca (Nadine Lustre), along with the fictional romance between the characters in the story Becca is writing. A little chaotic and a little overwhelming, the love stories in the film do not follow a clean, predictable path.
At its core, the film speaks to every hopeless romantic who has ever written their feelings in the margins of a notebook, held onto a “what if,” or believed that love should be just like in the movies. At the same time, it is a testament that love, like real life, is far from perfect—and maybe that is what makes it worth writing about.
Ambition vs. Love: Alone/Together (2019)
There is a certain kind of heartbreak that comes with knowing you found the right person at the wrong time. Alone/Together takes on this quiet devastation with a sense of maturity and cold reality, one that lingers long after the credits roll. Unlike One More Chance, where love is given another shot, this film presents a more painful fate: sometimes, love is not lost because of a lack of effort, but because life simply pulls people in different directions.
Tin (Liza Soberano), an ambitious UP Diliman Art Studies student, meets Raf (Enrique Gil), a struggling UST pre-med student, at the National Museum. Their love begins with a debate over Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, grows in Sunken Garden meetings, and thrives in dreams of a shared future.
With its raw and mature take on romance and ambition, Alone/Together reminds us that dreams and relationships do not always go hand-in-hand, leaving us with a question that’s as painful as it is real: Would you choose your career over love?
Why is the Atenean romance still off-screen?
College is truly a melting pot of people, experiences, and also the types of love one can encounter. In the span of four years (or more), you can feel love leaving its mark on you and these movies show just that. That begs the question: Where is the iconic Ateneo romance film? Maybe it starts with an E-Jeep meet-cute, two strangers squeezed side by side. Perhaps it’s a slow-burn love story unfolding in the quiet corners of the New Rizal Library. There are a plethora of uniquely Atenean moments perfect for the movies. Perhaps it’s time they grace the screen.
