Two steps forward, one step back
What would you say to your future self? Millennials from different backgrounds answer this question in the documentary ‘Letters to the Future.’
MANILA, Philippines - What would you say to your future self?” is, to me, a terrifying question. At 21, I’m too preoccupied piecing together my daily life (and finding the answers to big questions like “I have to pay how much in withholding tax?”) to even begin thinking about what I want to tell myself 30 years down the road.
But this is the exact question that fuels Letters to the Future, Bia Catbagan’s upcoming half-hour documentary. A time capsule of sorts, the film is built on 20-somethings speaking candidly about the issues — both trite and complex — that confront Millennials: Social media, the pursuit of success, childhood goals gone awry, selflies, our itch to try everything and the arguably bad habit of sticking to nothing, and, of course, the typical but no less overwhelming cluelessness as to what we’re doing with our lives. All this ultimately leads to the final scenes, where the subjects leave heartfelt messages to their decades-older selves.
To be honest, I initially thought the film had all the potential to fall flat. Just another addition to the many, wholly unhelpful accounts of how I should work my 20s. But unlike every variation of the “Things I Wish I Knew In My 20s” lists that take up too much space on my feed, Letters trades in all the derivative, unsolicited advice for dialogue that’s at once realistic and hopeful, intellectual and heartfelt.
The cast is made up of a carefully selected group of 23- to 28-year-olds (not so young as to still be completely clueless but not so old as to only be worried about turning 30) from various walks of life. Their commentary is at turns funny, sad, and insightful, but always carried by sincerity and — for a generation that thrives on carefully curated social media personae —refreshing vulnerability.
What works to the film’s advantage is that, while the interview questions were planned out in advance, the editing process saw the answers lead to the film’s final outline instead of the other way around. When the first 12-minute cut turned out to be just a barrage of random quotes, Catbagan broke it apart and let the lines dictate the structure. “It was a discovery of what was being said rather than having this outline I just wanted to follow,” she explains. The result is a relatable narrative that doesn’t try too hard. There’s a natural flow to the answers despite no questions ever being asked aloud.
But just for the sake of argument (true to Millennial form), I suggest to Catbagan that older viewers might say that the film fits right in with our label as a narcissistic, entitled, and self-absorbed generation. It is, after all, a bunch of 20-somethings talking to other 20-somethings about the hopes and hardships that come with being a 20-something today. But Catbagan doesn’t see it that way. Though people over 28 fall outside her target market, she believes that oldies who see the film will see a side of Millennials that they’re too quick to pass over in favor of the criticism leveled against us.
“You have people who are impatient because they want to make good use of the time they have now, or give back, or do work that has more meaning,” she says. “So I think (older) people should be more open-minded about why we’re these negative things and see the real reasons behind them. Yes, we are impatient, but we’re impatient to find meaningful things. And I think that matters more than the fact that we are impatient.”
As relevant to Millennials as the film is, at the heart of it, Letters circles back to Catbagan as her own letter to her future self. “All of those things are my issues. All of those things are things I think about,” she says. Like her interviewees, at 26 she seems a little muddled about her life’s direction, but that’s ultimately overpowered by her excitement at the prospect of what the future might hold for her.
She intended Letters to the Future’s overarching tone to be idealistic, which it is. But if, like me, it also makes you a little nervous because no, apparently things don’t get any easier, Catbagan hopes that by the end of the film you’ll at least feel less alone. What she wants people to take away is that “everyone’s still figuring things out, and I think that’s okay. Even if you don’t want it to be okay.”
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Catch Letters to the Future in U-View, Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street at 8 p.m. on July 29, Aug. 2, Aug. 5, and Aug. 9.
Voice of a generation
Some folks see Millennials as self-absorbed, narcissistic kids with first-world problems. But times are changing and the problems kids have are different too. Letters to the Future explores these problems through a series of candid interviews. Here are choice quotes from the documentary:
