One Hit Wonder unfolds with an assured precision rarely found in contemporary Philippine cinema. Marla Ancheta, in her dual role as writer and director, offers a romance-drama that privileges emotional fidelity over sensationalism, cultivating a contemplative atmosphere that meditates on ambition, memory, and the fragile economics of creative success.
The film charts the intertwined journeys of Entoy and Lorina, two aspiring musicians navigating the heady yet precarious world of 1990s Original Pilipino Music (OPM). The era’s sonic aesthetics—marked by earnest lyrics and synthesized instrumentation—become part of the narrative’s structural DNA. Khalil Ramos inhabits Entoy with a quiet longing that rarely tips into overwrought performance, his presence defined by a clarity of intention rather than overt yearning. Opposite him, Sue Ramirez’s Lorina is rendered with a nuanced poise: she is luminous yet contained, her emotional currency measured and purposeful.
Ancheta’s screenplay is economical. Conversations are pared of excess, with off-hand remarks and pregnant pauses performing much of the emotional work. The direction amplifies this minimalist approach: the camera lingers on the tactile fineness of a fretted guitar, the shifting light across a rehearsal room mirror, the subtle exchange of glances between hopeful artists. In doing so, the film calibrates a quiet form of expressivity rooted in gesture and spatial silence.
The production design is both faithful and suggestive. The recreation of OPM rehearsal spaces—including cramped recording booths, cigarette-wreathed lounges, and dimly lit corridors—feels lived-in, yet never kitsch. This attention to artisanal detail offers viewers a texture-rich environment that enhances immersion. The soundtrack, by Seyi River, is seamlessly integrated; original compositions and diegetic performances are interlaced in a way that they function as emotional counterpoints rather than mere underscoring.
Supporting performances anchor the film without diluting its emotional clarity. Lilet Esteban, Gladys Reyes, Vivoree Esclito, Romnick Sarmenta, Matt Lozano, Victor Medina, and Dawit Tabonares bring subtlety and integrity to their roles, offering glancing subplots and peripheral arcs that deepen the film’s thematic underpinnings without diluting its central focus.
Visually, the film employs a judicious palette to underscore its thematic dichotomies. Warm, diffused lighting bathes nostalgic sequences, evoking filtered retrospection, while cooler, sharper tones punctuate scenes of creative frustration or professional disadvantage. The interplay of shadow and clarity mirrors the characters’ trajectories—oscillating between obscurity and aspiration.
The film’s pacing is deliberate, eschewing high-intensity catharsis. Instead, it builds toward moments of introspective epiphany, unforced and quietly resonant. Entoy’s minor breakthroughs, Lorina’s tentative steps toward recognition—these milestones are rendered as small victories, as meaningful in their restraint as they are in their authenticity.
At its core, One Hit Wonder is a study in the quiet tragedies and modest triumphs of artistic life. It resists coercive emotional manipulation, choosing instead to inhabit the subtler register of passion and longing. In so doing, it becomes less a spectacle and more a mirror—reflective, exacting, and intimate.
One Hit Wonder premiered today on Netflix.
