John (Dingdong Dantes) is a businessman who is always on the go, to the detriment of his relationships with his loving wife Mary (Marian Rivera) and his son Austin (Jordan Lim.) It all comes to a head when several unfortunate events befall John, leading to a car accident that takes the life of his wife. It is there where he meets a certain quirky carpenter with time travel powers (Pepe Herrera) who allows him to live the day before the accident – but at a substantial personal cost…
Many people have made comparisons between Mae Cruz-Alviar’s Rewind and Gil Junger’s 2004 film If Only, and I totally agree – this is just If Only but with Jesus Christ as a supporting character. The religious aspects affect the story as now there is a reason for the time travel and there is supposed to be a moral lesson behind it.
While this series of events will probably be okay for some, to me it feels a little weird. John’s arc throughout the film is a redemptive one, and even though the film makes it clear that no one can truly change in one day, his death (and not necessarily his actions) is the catalyst for his family to thrive – Jesus just up and makes poor John a martyr for a greater purpose. In GomBurZa, it works but here it feels a little off, since John isn’t necessarily standing for some greater ideology or belief, he’s just a dude who neglected his family and wants to set things right, and he can only achieve that by dying? In the hands of an omnipotent deity that can do everything, wouldn’t it be more productive to, you know, let John be an even better person? Here it seems like he’s a blood sacrifice, blood for the blood god.
Various other storylines suffer because of the limited time John has during his second change. A meaningful exchange with his estranged father (Lito Pimentel) hints at a deeper history between the two – and parallels between John and his mother who died early – but it goes by a little too fast. Mary’s own desire to return to being a chef is also hinted at, but is mostly reduced to dialogue. Maybe Rewind could have been better served if it modified the structure of If Only a little more to let its characters breathe.
But hey, I’m not going to go all doom and gloom in here. The melodramatic aspects of the film worked for me, mostly thanks to the chemistry between real life husband and wife Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, and there were moments in this film where I felt legitimately emotional. Heck, I even called my wife after watching the film, and remembering certain moments and emotions from Rewind, hours after having watched it, still made me feel the feels. It’s okay but overall has some flaws.
