• It is painfully slow for a reason. And maybe this is why the series, they say, is better than the movie. Cause the series has the time to make us all feel the inevitable even more.
• The writing is so good, but also so British in its use of undertones. (If Philippine romcom or drama, you’d have loads of tears and lines and explosive scenes to keep the story going.) The writer made the characters speak so much while leaving so many things unsaid. And the unsaid is glaring that the viewer is left exasperated. Why can’t Emma and Dexy just get it on, right??? However that feeling turns shallow as one begins to understand what’s going to happen in the end. Because by then you realize that it is not a romcom, not a coming of age, but tragedy. I think that’s why it’s powerful. Because we expected romcom to unfold in certain ways but it was not really going that way, after all, which is why we could never quite guess whats going to happen.
• Still about the writer — that the end of this material is similar to the end of ARRIVAL; it is so masterfully done. You don’t see it coming. And it is totally hinged on the build up which is why we all cannot skip that painfully long and boring chunk of the story. (The long and boring start also will not make sense unless one gets to the end.)
• Notice also that the “happy parts” of Emma Morley and Dexy are so short. Again, for a reason. The long painful wait, the short happy resolution, then the tragic end. Which merits the title ONE DAY. Everything only happens in but a day. Just a day. A simple day. A day of meeting. A day of decision. Or a day of indecision. That is followed by many other days determined by that one crucial day and God only knows what we could have done to make the best course of action given the limited number of days we have as mere mortals. (Side note: I always fall in love with themes like this. When mortality is in the picture, I think a piece speaks the most palpable truth.)
• The characters were consistent and whole. I could believe in an Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew. I think maybe the series could spend a little more time outlining important parts about who they are as they age, too, in the series, because it does not have to stick to just two hours. There are stories that benefit with a time limit and this is not one of those because this one needs time, time, time. Otherwise, the story fails. Because the bedrock of this movie is time, and sometimes the unlucky lack thereof. (And how we can also see it as so much wasted time if it would prove to be so short in the end, yes? Maybe they could have done better if they knew they only had 20 years! But how do we even know that? How do we even really truly live each day as tho it were the last?)
• The cinematography is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!! Handheld when Dexy is heavy on subtance, dreamy and hazy and sexy when they were in Santorini, extreme closeups to reflect the electricity between them that they would deny for almost two decades. In the age if instagram, one should notice that there were hardly any vignettes. (Especially after having our eyes trained by lifestyle vlogs and movies like Past Lives.) Which tells you they weren’t after making a “pretty film.” It didn’t capitalize on beauty (notice Paris had ni eiffels and UK has no palaces) but FEELING. And you wouldn’t FEEL it this much if everything else weren’t so ordinary. The relationship and the unsaid MUST stand out, and nothing else.
• Your heart is like a wet towel that the film maker is trying to wring dry.
• METAPHOR GALORE. Lit major fest!!! From the title, to the settings. Like the maze scene, “How do we get out of this?” Indeed, they couldn’t get out of so many things that keep them from being together and yet they were together even in the maze, the confusion! And their nuances made u think maybe they don’t even want to get out of it this convoluted way of being together. I believe there’s more to catch but I need to watch again which then brings me to…
• HIGH REWATCH VALUE. Now you wanna watch it all over again to pick up all the hidden Mickeys you missed. (BEEF has this, too.)I bet rewatching will show us the story has been there all along!
• The actors they picked were amazing. Casting here in the series is brilliant cause I think it worked that Dexy rly was that white boy next door type and Emma is dorky, Indian, and totally not white. So visually it also plays to the whole asymmetrical nature of the relationship, filmakers captilizing on long held cultural values like race and color. (Not saying the value is right but it is utilized in the film to highlight some important points.)
• The reversal of Dex coming from a high point and onto decadence, while Emma Morely’s arc is from dork to successful author who now lives in a Parisian flat — is a great tool to get us hoping for the end we all would have wanted. And yet the most intelligent thing about the story is that the writer really gave it to us. He gave us the “and they lived happily” however didn’t finish it with “ever after.” 💔 Binawi ni author yung satisfaction ng audience. He gave it then he withdrew it. WHICH I THINK IS MORE PAINFUL THAN A STRAIGHT OUT NEVER HAPPENED ENDING. Which also makes you think life can be unfair because while Dex may have deserved it, Emma did not. And so again the nature of the relationship as assymmetrical is reunfirced, whereby it is never equal even until the end.
• The music as tool to move us along. Kinda like BEEF, but a little more overt than BEEF. 80’s and 90’s people would have a feast, music-wise as with the set design and wardrobe-wise. (As accurate haha! It’s like being time warped!)
• The MAKEUP is amazing. I dunno how they made them age. It’s wildt!!!!! Especially for Dexy! I wonder if they drew the facial lines???
• The Great Expectations line is key to the story. And Great Expectations as a story is key in itself to One Day. It’s of the same narrative of the right love that couldn’t find their perfect time on earth. It’s SITUATIONSHIP developed in 20 years which leads me to…
• Some things take decades to realize what you actually should have done with that one fateful day. Sadly, one can only know things like this in retrosepect.
• Another heartbreaking aspect I realised was that Dexter needed Emma, Emma didn’t need Dexter, but Emma always loved him. The most painful reality here is that Emma waited all her life for this to happen only to find out she won’t live long enough to enjoy it.
• But whose fault is it? Emma? Who pushed him away? Or Dexter who didn’t decide right away?