Romantic movies arrive with an almost machine-like regularity in our cinemas. We’ve probably seen every variation of on-screen love in both good movies and bad. But when it seems like we’ve seen all that the genre has to offer, a movie like Ulan comes along.


The story of Ulan plays out in two adjacent partsfrom the perspective of a young Maya, a part impeccably played by Elia Ilano, and as her present-day self as portrayed by Nadine Lustre. At its core, it plays out as a love story with very familiar tropes. The thing is, Ulan is also unlike any Filipino romantic movie we’ve seen before.



It’s best to forget the assumptions you’ve made based on the trailer of Ulan. Majority of the articles written before the movie’s release contained words like eerie and creepy. And that’s understandable given the appearance of tikbalangs (which we should now say look childish for  good reason) but for those turned off by the idea that this is a horror movie, we can assure you that it isn't.


What Ulan does is utilize elements of magic realism to tell its story. While it’s not as whimsical as Big Fish nor as flashy as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Worldthe effect is as potent. Granted these "breaks" from reality will confuse some viewers but that’s to be expected when experiencing a narrative device as experimental as this. What’s more important to note, though, is that the film feels like it was designed to start discussions that will continue long after the credits have rolled.


It must have been difficult putting the numerous elements of Ulan together as cleanly as director Irene Villamor did. In a film that contains so many moving parts, she and her team delivered a complete product when others have failed to do so with far simpler material.


Ulan is a beautiful movie to look at and it shows just how far the industry has come in creating visual feasts. The sound is superb and is equally responsible for creating an atmosphere that leaks out from the screen and fills the cinema. The cast also deserves to be lauded for performing (expectedly) well. Lustre proved that she is her own star and Carlo Aquino continues to cement his spot as one of the best leading men in local cinema.



Ulan is a movie that not everyone will love and that is perfectly fine. After all, this film felt like a risky proposition from the start (a risk that might have been mitigated by Lustre’s star power, but remember that it was also a risk to remove her from the safe confines of the JaDine tandem). But the beauty of it lies in that risk and in the fact that it does not conform to any formula. Too much value has been put on following trends that sell and that’s why we feel this is a film that had to be made. Ulan has all the elements of a romantic film, hugot lines and kilig moments between the leads included. But Ulan manages to take everything you know and expect, and create an entirely new experience for you to enjoy.