100 AWIT PARA KAY STELLA (2025) Review
Directed by Jason Paul Laxamana
It has been eight years since 100 Tula Para Kay Stella was released, but I think Bela Padilla and JC Santos were more into their characters, Stella and Fidel, this time. You can feel the sincerity in how they portray their roles. It’s like they’ve personally created Stella and Fidel inside their heads, who they are since birth until the previous film. It’s easy to watch the two, and it was easy to understand Stella and Fidel. Bela and JC’s performances are the strength of the film. You’ll laugh and cry with them. It isn’t about romance anymore. It’s about healing, catharsis and loving yourself.
But of course, the story will delve into how the two reconnect. How the two found themselves in each other’s company, once again. But a new person is entering the picture, Kyle Echarri’s Clyde – a rising singer who, indirectly, brings the two together and complicates things more.
Shifting from poems to songs made sense in the film. It didn’t feel like it was just for the sake of making a sequel out of a successful movie. The story continues because there’s more to tell about Fidel and Stella.
The songs were great, too. I now have ‘Lipstick Na Itim’ and ‘Kamusta Na’ on my playlist and even the short songs are a bop. But what makes the songs special is that they’re also there to help set the mood and tell the story.
The film goes beyond going after the person you love. It has evolved into going after what you love – what makes you you, what makes you mature, improve and better in all aspects. The romance between Fidel and Stella, their complicated journey, set them to who they are going to be. It might not be the romance movie you expect, but the pain in the relationship, the love between Stella and Fidel, has more substance and has given the audience more to realize about life and love.
4 OUT OF 5 STARS
‘100 Awit Para Kay Stella’ opens in cinemas on September 10, 2025 from Viva Films and Ninuno Media. Rated PG by the MTRCB.