‘Sweet Escape’ REVIEW: In That Moment, I Swear It Was a Movie
‘Sweet Escape’ REVIEW: In That Moment, I Swear It Was a Movie
Arci Muñoz and Kang Donggun in Sweet Escape | Still courtesy of RR Entertainment
We love our love stories. For all its good and bad, Filipinos have catapulted plenty of romantic stories across film and TV, and even across Asia into local success. It’s easy to get swept up in the quotable quotes and sweeping drama of the stories we experience as audiences across generations. It’s this kind of persistent love for love stories that could only make a film like Sweet Escape possible. A love story dedicated to all the bits and pieces and melodrama that go into a narrative love story’s highs and lows, it’s a film that takes its love for love stories into territory that’s romantically charming, even when it charts a lot of familiar territory.
Candy (Arci Muñoz) and Dave (Kang Dong-Gun) each have their own past tragedies to escape from. Candy was the doctor whose negligence resulted in a patient’s death and a lawsuit that left her broke. Dave is kicked out by his father for being a disappointment. Both of them find their way to Bohol somehow, the film making a few melodramatic leaps for Candy before it just cuts to them on a boat trip with a meet-cute that’s the right kind of cringe and worth a few more reactions from both characters that the film doesn’t follow through on.
Kang Donggun and Arci Muñoz in Sweet Escape | Still courtesy of RR Entertainment
Sweet Escape sets up a lot of things, and along the way, it picks up on a lot of moments that will make you swoon, as well as a good romance film can. There’s the “Oh, it’s you!” awkward recognition that happens when they meet at the place where they must somehow stay together. There’s the gradual chemistry that both Muñoz and Kang plant well enough for their characters as the story goes, which makes for great moments, like when they look at the stars or when they have their first real argument. Even the moment when another character goads Dave into admitting he likes Candy while she’s behind him is squeal-worthy.
Along the way of its romance, the film can’t make up its mind on where the characters are in their relationship. I know love can be messy, but you can’t establish a moment like Dave telling himself to keep his distance from Candy because he briefly thinks she’s married and then seconds later have him invite her to lie down close to him to watch the stars.
The push and pull of romance can challenge anyone in the story, but Sweet Escape grows fond of its many interesting ideas before giving up on them instantly. Take the introduction of Matet de Leon’s character, an older figure, to Ayeesha Cervantes’ pregnant character. Their argument draws the attention and ire of William Lorenzo’s character, whom de Leon’s character sternly reprimands for risking financial stability for their dying cacao business before promptly rushing off to entertain Dave and beg him to buy something.
Kang Donggun and Arci Muñoz in Sweet Escape | Still courtesy of RR Entertainment
For the Ricafort couple, director Rommel Ricafort and writer Shine Ricafort, this isn’t their first go-around at exploring the love between a Filipino and a Korean. Sweet Escape follows their 2020 effort You With Me, which was, by most accounts, a proper Filipino-Korean production. While I’m not in a position to say how this Escape fares in contrast to their previous effort, I can at least say that even when it starts and sputters, it keeps going. It could lose maybe around ten minutes without losing anything essential, which would at least make its sweeter moments more potent.
There’s no confirmed word yet on where Sweet Escape will show following its Sinag Maynila run, but it’s still worth the watch — whether you don’t feel like putting anything else on or if you’re only gonna let it play in the background. Whichever way gets you watching this, the moment they admit their love to each other and use the film’s title is a moment that feels big, that feels like this was, despite itself and for at least a moment, a sweet escape.
‘Sweet Escape’ premiered at Sinag Maynila 2026 at select cinemas from March 30 to April 1, 2026
