The sweet with the sour

It’s sad but true. Today’s young stars, director Joey Javier Reyes observes, are like cellphone models. They’re as good as the latest model. Then they’re gone as soon as the newest toy hits the market.In this age of instant stars and fame on a silver platter, can we still expect today’s celebrities to last as long as Richard Gomez and Aga Muhlach? Maybe not. But they’d love to, at least those in the cast of Star Cinema’s Can This Be Love.

Hero Angeles, who teams up anew with Sandara Park, says it’s all a matter of attitude. Hero swears he’s willing to learn and do whatever is needed to stay long in the biz.

Joross Gamboa, cast as Roxanne Guinoo’s love interest, speaks in metaphors. "I will add new features to the cellphone everytime so it will never get out of style," he describes his career plan.

Co-star Arron Villaflor, a Star Circle Quest (Batch 2) winner together with Can This be Love cast member Paw Diaz, says it more simply: "I will strive to be always pleasant on the job."

No wonder their director, Joey Reyes, has high hopes for them despite dire warnings about what today’s young stars are in danger of becoming.

"It’s much better than Botox," the director who dyed his hair glorious red proclaims. "Working with young stars is never boring. They always surprise you."

So while he bewails their culture of instant gratification, seeing more young blood in the biz (thanks to endless talent searches) tickles him pink. Direk Joey, the long-time college professor, knows how to read the young’s mind and handle them accordingly.

He advises them to save for the rainy days because stardom is not forever. At 50, the director still feels giddy for his young stars whenever they stare lovingly into each other’s eyes, on cam and off. Young romance sends Joey’s adrenaline a-rushing the way staying glued to Friendster gives him an all-time high.

Yes. you can even label it youth culture worship.

Don’t trust him to fade quietly into the background, just because he’s uh, different from his young stars and college students. Direk Joey’s colors scream fun, fun fun.

He sports a watch with a wide yellow orange bracelet like some badge of honor. His shirts come in brilliant colors like blazing red and lime green. You can almost hear him proclaim, "Look ma, it feels to good to look young! So come join me!"

Everything is just icing on the cake, though. Beneath those flashing colors and fashionable thingamajigs is someone who wants to make sense out of the seemingly inane, like teenaged romance.

"I agreed to make another romantic movie only if it has something deeper to offer the audience," the director describes his deal with Star Cinema.

Thus, Can This Be Love deals with a youthful malaise: the pervading ambition to go abroad and earn oodles of dollars for the family. Hence the popularity of nursing and caregiving courses.

Hero as Ryan is a nursing student who wants to leave the Philippines for the US (he admits toying with the idea of working abroad as a fallback position).

Sandara as Daisy the Korean exchange student, on the other hand, makes mincemeat of Hero’s dreams when she falls in love not just with him, but with the Philippines. The stark contrast mirrors the different cultures around which Filipino and Korean lives revolve. Here is someone raring to leave his country, and another aching to stay in her adopted homeland.

Who will prevail ? Direk Joey promises a twist, but he’s leaving everyone in suspense.

So let young Hero-Sandara fans scream and shriek all they want. Let Joross-Roxanne die-hards swoon no end. We Pinoys are suckers for romance anyway.

But let members of Gen Y – the leaders of tomorrow – look beyond the thrills and frills. Let them mull the present so they can direct their future more. Young romance is fine, but let it not be blind to the realities of survival. It’s what a movie like this – light and easy – but with a telling message to give, is for.