Jasmine (Sarah Geronimo) seems to be a healthy, cheerful, little girl who is kind of obsessive compulsive. She has reminders how to live life on wooden tablets that she sees as soon as she wakes up, and she keeps her stuffed toys propped up in a particular manner after having fixed her bed. However, as we get introduced to her close relationship with her grandmother Olive (Gina Pareño) who raised her and her two siblings, we learn that there is more to her than meets the eye.
She helps Olive run the cafe and we learn via the lottery scene as well as her scene with a customer of particular tastes that she is somewhat a genius, armed with a photographic memory and can recite orders word for word. However, her childish demeanor isn't just a demeanor at all, she is really a child. The illness wasn't mentioned at all anywhere in the film but Jasmine has Asperger's syndrome, now more popularly known as autism spectrum disorder, thus rendering her emotionally and socially stunted.
The film's trailer makes us expect that the movie will be about Jasmine saving Olive via a little intelligent dog who just happened to look like the old woman's deceased dog, Happy (Milo). However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. When Olive comes down with a contagious disease, Jasmine has no choice but to live with her sisters, Dahlia (Ara Mina) and Violet (Meg Imperial). I know this is a small detail but I'm mighty curious as to what they do for a living since their house looks like it costs a hundred million or so. Anyway, even though both are aware of Jasmine's special condition, Dahlia is constantly on the edge because she wants Jasmine to grow up.
If you are expecting some Pixar type miracle in the film, you are not going to get it. The film offers something far more better and realistic, which is using Jasmine's character to make us realize that even though there are bad situations in life, we just need to open our eyes and we will see that there good people along the way. Jasmine's kindness and innocence paved the way for people to see the good in themselves (like the holdupper from the trailer) which they didn't know existed. Milo made her strong as her companion while she manages to find her footing in a world where people do whatever they can to get by. She learns to let go and hold on to the memories which makes her a stronger person.
Unforgettable is a very apt adjective to describe Sarah's performance in this film, which is proof that the pop princess can be called a queen when it comes to acting. She is what holds the film together, like what she did in Miss Granny. Cameos from Viva artists especially Anne Curtis as Nurse Gem also added a splash of fun to this dramatic coming of age film.
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