Young STAR’s favorite movies, TV and music of 2023

Movies 

Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)

It was a great year for film, but Past Lives blew every other contender out of the water. In Celine Song’s directorial debut, childhood friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) revisit their what-ifs and what-could’ve-beens after years of either talking too much or not talking at all. The film perfectly encapsulates how some doors don’t close until much later and not a moment sooner. The proper closure will arrive when it is needed, when you’re ready to meet it. – Kynesha Robles

Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

The subversions of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos have always hit close to home for me. Even more so when his newest feature, Poor Things—a sweeping adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 comic novel—premiered at QCinema International Film Festival this year.

Poor Things glimmers in its abundance of curiosity, all the while the spindly protagonist Bella Baxter (played to perfection by Emma Stone), who has been resurrected by her “God” (Willem Dafoe), embarks on a globe-spanning adventure to discover the pleasures and pains of the world. It’s an absurdist odyssey that reflects on what makes a life and the learned repressions of adulthood, and I can’t wait ‘til everybody sees it and learns a thing or two from headstrong Bella. – Kiana Kimberly Flores

Gitling (dir. Jopy Arnaldo)

The moment I got out of the cinema, I immediately turned on my phone, searched for Gitling’s official trailer on Facebook, and shared it with the caption, “Ang dinner ko ngayong gabi ay yearning! Easy 5/5!” This film came into my life after almost failing a major college course and getting out of a situationship. I was longing to be seen, eager to be understood, and wanting non-verbal security. I was at my lowest and needed to be held, and Gitling provided that. It felt like a warm hug from a best friend. – Yra Luis Gener Gutierrez

TV

Lessons in Chemistry

No other series I watched this year had as much heart as this. Based on Bonnie Garmus’s novel of the same name, the Apple TV+ series centers around Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) as she explores the unfamiliar terrains of motherhood, grief and 1950s daytime television. After her dreams of being a chemist get smashed, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to host a cooking show. She finds she is finally heard for what she has to say and resolves to teach science alongside recipes to similarly overlooked housewives.

“Remember, courage is the root of change. And change is what we are chemically designed for,” she says to her audience in one scene— which, at the moment, felt like it was addressed directly to me. “I will not ask you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because many women do not have bootstraps to pull themselves up by. If your life has been anything like mine, your dreams will not come to you in a linear fashion.” — Kynesha Robles

The Bear (Season 2)

This was my first year of being Young STAR’s editor-in-chief, and there were lots of days when my mind operated like one of The Bear’s famously chaotic kitchen scenes. I took delight in the show’s constant adrenaline rush, perhaps happy to be stressed about something I knew would end once the credits rolled. Season 2, which premiered earlier this year to much critical acclaim, was moving and surprisingly better than the first. Easily the most memorable episode was “Forks”—Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) trains at a fancy restaurant where he is only entrusted with drying forks, yet he somehow uncovers the meaning of life by the end. It got me thinking about all the reasons I’m here, writing this for you to read. I know you’re not supposed to know what you want to do with your life at 23, but maybe you’re not supposed to know ever. It only matters that you’re with people who believe in something as much as you do. Purpose, chef! – Andrea Panaligan

Music

D-Day by Agust D

Music got me through every crest and trough this year, but one album stands out among all of them. A Korean rap album couldn’t be any further from my personality or taste, but it’s the subtext of “D-Day” that first compelled me to listen and has since changed the trajectory of my year.

Before my 21st birthday back in July, I read critics and fans quote Nitya Prakash (“Do you understand the violence it took to become this gentle?”) and Richard Siken (“...the gentleness that comes, not from the absence of violence, but despite the abundance of it”) to expand on the BTS member’s debut solo album. I realized while watching Agust D step into his 30s with liberation from the anger that gripped him for most of his 20s that maybe my birthday wish this year was to be gentler to the world, and ultimately, to myself. “For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a goalpost for my career or ego, nor did I want something that money could buy. All I want now is to be gentler to myself and to the world, a complete opposite to the intensities I’ve known my whole life,” I wrote in my newsletter, published as soon as I blew out my 21 candles.

“Future’s gonna be okay,” August D, also known as SUGA and Min Yoongi, repeats and assures throughout his title track. It’s the line that his fans will in turn repeat as both personal and global catastrophes ensue and as their idol enters the military. It’s the line I’ll still have as one of my phone lock screens even after all these months. – Kynesha Robles

Raining in Manila by Lola Amour

When this song was first released, it immediately went viral—as it should! As a college student living in U-Belt who just wants to romanticize her life, Raining in Manila gave me the chance to see my hometown in a different light. Setting aside the cars and the high-rise condominiums, Manila is such a magical place. It became my comfort song, playing through my earphones on normal days while I’m walking home from Legarda Station, and on rainy days as my Angkas ride is braving the floods of España Boulevard. – Kristine Malonzo

Until I Reach the Sun, Vol. 2 by The Ridleys

I feel like The Ridleys makes songs for people who struggle with the hectic pace of life and growing up, but persevere anyway. Being the perfect mix of upbeat and calming, the album accompanied me during many all-nighters while cramming a paper. Milkyway is my favorite track as someone whose sanity depends on whether I’ve had time to debrief with my friends about the things that stress us. – Kristine Malonzo

The Kiss of Venus by Paul McCartney and Dominic Fike

If you’ve seen Euphoria, chances are you’ll recognize the face behind this rendition. A considerable portion of my 2023 was spent listening to this particular track, from when I needed to process emotions to simply keeping that dreamy feeling in myself alive.

I was initially drawn to its melody, which I associated with the sensation of falling in love. But the lyrics eventually struck me as relevant to our present culture. It stirs both the nostalgic and the activist in you—the latter being a part of me I often question if it still exists. It’s interesting how in the middle of situations that urge me to escape, this track oddly grounds me in the present. — Oleen Florendo