Netflix’s Filipino drama “A Journey” (2024), directed by RC Delos Reyes, is a pathos-filled sentimental tearjerker with a familiar premise. The age-old “Terminal illness upping life’s value” trope sets the film on its ‘journey’ to explore friendship, love, and, of course, death. The lack of novelty prompts a lack of appeal, initially. However, to its credit, “A Journey” includes a few more turns that help the film reach its tender finishing line with significant brevity and poignancy. Even with cynicism, one cannot help but appreciate the feeling “A Journey” tries to evoke when the credit starts to roll.
Shane (Kaye Abad) and Bryan (Paolo Contis) are happily married. So, when Shane visits her oncologist, we can feel ourselves bracing for the big bad news. Shane’s cancer has returned. The news devastates the couple. The couple has a friend from their childhood, the perennial third-wheel Kristoff (Patrick Garcia). Kristoff is a carefree bachelor and an actor with a significant fan following. Shane, Bryan, and Kristoff have been friends since childhood. Understandably, the cancer news depresses Kristoff as well. After taking a moment to deal with the curveball, Shane takes a literal ‘life-changing’ decision. She decides not to take treatment.
The film’s eponymous ‘journey’ refers to a stubborn Shane’s final hurrah. Shane, who does not want to spend her remaining days fighting an arduous and losing battle, decides to go on a journey to fulfill some of her wishes. She pulls out the old ‘magic list,’ where she mentioned things like “Seeing Penguins.” Now, if you are aware of the term “Bucket List,” coined by screenwriter Justin Zackman, or you have seen the movie by the same name, written by Zackman and featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, you know the deal. It is a list of things to do before one kicks the bucket, so to speak. Things to do before we die.
Bryan and Kristoff plan Shane’s subsequent ‘bucket list’ journey. So, the film becomes a travelogue featuring some of the scenic landscapes of the Philippines and Australia. This is the part where one becomes aware of the serious lack of novelty, with the obvious similarities with films of such ilk, like “The Bucket List.” Shane, Bryan, and Kristoff experience both new and old things, like seeing the Tasmanian Devil and visiting their old school. Their journey is filled with reconnecting with lost relationships and welcoming new things while churning out standard “Seize the day” moments and dialogues.
Just when it seemed that “A Journey,” although well-intended, is just about a knock-off of “The Bucket List,” it changes for the better. Without delving into a spoiler-filled plot reveal, I can say that it always felt like the film needed just about anything different to set itself apart a little. And thankfully, it does, with another different trope. With about only one-fourth of its duration remaining, “A Journey” takes some bold decisions and makes its entire story mean something else. It gives death the fearful respect it deserves. It underlines the finality of death much more than I thought it would do when Shane’s journey to cross things off her list began.
For this alone, “A Journey” should deserve some praise. Thanks to the performances of the three main cast members, the film always has a grip on the emotional quotient. Kaye Abad and Paolo Contis have had the perfect chemistry of a couple who have been together for thirty-odd years. Abad’s Shane is the driving force of the film and she excelled there. Contis, equally, did not hold back. Patrick Garcia’s Kristoff is charming, playful, and poignant. Kristoff’s transformation is all the more important when you think about how the story ends. The eponymous journey changes him for the better, career-wise and lifestyle-wise.
Director RC Delos Reyes starts with an all too familiar premise and sticks with the usual storyline for quite a long time. “A Journey” changes course late, but thankfully not too late. Too often, films and stories like this fall into the abyss of off-handedly thought-out life affirmation cliches. And despite significantly running the risk of that, “A Journey” veers away and becomes something else. It becomes a story of genuine love, undying friendship, and the bittersweet phenomenon of remembrance.
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