If I were 18 again and were given the chance to choose who I would look like, I have just two choices. If I were male, I would want to be James Reid. I would know that I am very attractive but would not really care about it. That I think is what makes James irresistible. If I were a girl, I would want to be Nadine Lustre. Not only because I would have James for my boyfriend but because I would be sexy and beautiful and desired by other men who are all jealous of James.
That is a fun intriguing thought but also inevitable because those two together just gets one thinking. One is, there are no doubts about it anymore. The film Never Not Love You is, as the cliché goes, proof positive that James and Nadine, collectively known as JaDine, make up the best looking couple in Philippine show business. Whether bathe in a swathe of orange tinged darkness or brightly sunkissed in an open field, these two look incredibly gorgeous.
Add to this the fact that they are electric together. James and Nadine have chemistry to overflowing. The attraction is so palpable that when magnified thousands of times on a movie screen, audiences are held captive by their images. Viewers are hard put taking their eyes off the screen. This is a rare occurrence. Remember, JaDine was just a good for the box-office love team a few years ago. Today, they are making history as a great love team for the ages. Oh, and they are very good actors, too.
Never Not Love You tells the story of Gio and Joanne. Gio is this happy-go-lucky artist, a man of the wind who is comfortable in his feckless situation. Joanne is his opposite. She is a career girl on the way up who dutifully sends a big portion of her pay check to her family in the province. They meet and they fall in love and are now faced with unexpected choices. How Gio and Joanne deal with the turmoil generated by these choices is what the movie is about.
Never Not Love You is directed by Antoinette Jadaone, who also did That Thing Called Tadhana and Walang Forever, plus JaDine’s blockbuster teleseryes, On The Wings of Love and Till I Met You. It is an honest look at the conflicts brought about by falling in love. Like wouldn’t it be nice to fall deeply in love at the right time and with the right person. Not in this case though. Gio and Joanne seem so right together but then, life is not merely about being in love.
Antoinette made a bold take on the love team movie in Never Not Love You. It is without a love triangle, meddling friends and families or the rich against poor element. But then the picture has stars who more than make up for the lack. James and Nadine are compelling performers who are at their acting best in this film where they inhabit their roles with uncompromising commitment. The result is most unexpected, JaDine can be like this? and it is very exciting.
It is now a fact. Never Not Love You has opened the door to acting greatness for James and Nadine. Just think, that very idea seemed almost unimaginable a short while ago. But it happened. James and Nadine have attained a new, high level of artistry in their careers while also being as much in love as they are and looking like the way they do. Life can be so unfair. But fan that I am, this early I am already wondering which coming project will be able to fully exploit their bursting sensitivity to excellent use.
Oh and before I forget, may I remind you that James and Nadine sing, too and they do in the movie. The Never Not Love You soundtrack is now available on all digital platforms. It features John Roa with Oks Lang; Janine Tenoso with a cover of Kitchie Nadal’s Bulong; Marion Aunor with Sana; Ebe Dancel with Prom and James and Nadine with their own duet version of Prom.