A caravan of courage, a display of love

Meet, Greet & Bye:

- BÜM D. TENORIO, JR.

Maricel Soriano with Joshua Garcia, Juan Karlos Labajo, Belle Mariano and Piolo Pascual in a family drama about enduring love and the capacity of the human spirit to forgive.

If it were food, it would be easy to say that Meet, Greet, & Bye is a meaty reheat.

Director Cathy Garcia-Sampana served a riveting family drama whose film feel was akin to Tanging Yaman (2000) and Seven Sundays (2017). Not much reinvention on the plot was done but this honesty worked to the advantage of the exposition of the film. It's not trite. Because any story that dissects the Filipino family is good copy. It's not stale. Because any story that delves into the Filipino family is current.

Meet, Greet & Bye revolves around Baby Facundo (Maricel Soriano), a mother who refuses to undergo chemotherapy despite her advanced stage of cancer yet aspires to have a glimpse of her K-drama idol Park Seo Joon in a meet-and-greet for fans. Baby has three children Tupe (Piolo Pacual), Brad (Joshua Garcia) and Leo (Juan Karlos Labajo) and a granddaughter named Geri (Belle Mariano) who all teamed up to try to score tickets for her and her two friends. If she gets to meet Park Seo Joon, she will agree to undergo chemo again. That’s the deal.

And in and out of that deal is a caravan of courage, a display of love, a dissertation of the human spirit’s tenacity and a beautiful narrative of forgiveness.

The ultimate strength of the film is in its cast. So formidable is the acting of each character that you understand their strength and vulnerability.