UPDATE (Nov. 24): This story now includes info on the film’s release.
Warning: The movie trailer embedded in this story contains a homophobic slur
How many of you are obsessed with astrology and leaving it up to fate to align the stars in your favor? Or maybe you blame your unlucky stars when things don’t go your way?
Fate and chance sometimes have great timing, especially when we meet people who end up being meaningful fixtures in our lives. That’s exactly the premise of upcoming queer rom-com movie “The Boy Foretold By The Stars.”
This film follows Dominic (played by Adrian Lindayag) and Luke (played by Keann Johnson), two senior high school students who attend a retreat that their strict, all-boys Catholic school organizes. Dominic doesn’t believe in fate, even after an eerily accurate tarot card reading from a fortune teller, while Luke decides on everything by tossing a coin.
There’s a lot to unpack in this film: growing up queer in a Catholic school, standing up to homophobia and sticking to your faith, queer or otherwise.
What’s most interesting about this film is it isn’t afraid to portray the effeminate gay, a trope that’s often used on supporting characters―usually either as the best friend of the female half in the main heterosexual couple of the movie, or that loud, sassy friend in the group who stirs the pot and dishes the gossip. In “The Boy Foretold By The Stars,” fate is just as real as the people who experience it.
This film was described as the “first Filipino BL movie,” as it was in the works even before the lockdown and the surge of BL titles this year. Directed by Dolly Dulu and produced by Jodi Sta. Maria under Clever Minds Inc., The Dolly Collection and Brainstormers Lab, it was even a feature-length finalist at the 2020 CineFilipino Film Festival.
This film is also part of the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which typically starts on Christmas Day every year. The organizers behind the MMFF partnered up with Globe and streaming platform Upstream to push through with a purely digital event, which means you can enjoy viewing the film at home.
#MMFF2020 #MMFFonUPSTREAM
“The Boy Foretold By the Stars” lead actors Adrian Lindayag and Keean Johnson recall what was it like to work together for the film. | @marinelRcruzINQ pic.twitter.com/ZhgGrTpa9N— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) November 24, 2020
Each ticket is worth P250, which you can purchase via Gmovies and gain access to the movie via Upstream. Not a bad price, since you can watch the movie in a group for the price of a single person’s ticket (you know, pre-pandemic, when “going to the movies” was still a thing).
Keep an eye out for this film plus other BL titles coming our way (we heard one fan fave is even getting an upgrade).
Read more:
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Thanks to Cairo of ‘Gameboys,’ I’ve stopped being hard on myself
‘2gether’ fans, these Filipino BL shows might be your next binge series
Still from “The Boy Foretold By The Stars” trailer