Family drama 'Her Locket' gears for commercial run

After making the rounds at the film festival circuit here and abroad, the family drama Her Locket is gearing for a commercial run in cinemas starting on January 22, 2025, just a week before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The Jewels
from L: Sophie Ng, Rebecca Chuaunsu, and Zoey Villamangca 

Directed by J.E. Tiglao, Her Locket stars Filipino-Chinese actress Rebecca Chuaunsu in the lead role of Jewel Ouyang, a woman who not only has lost her youth, fame, and fortune through time, but her memories as well due to dementia. The unearthing of an old locket triggers the return of Jewel's memories especially that of her turbulent youth and family life. Jewel's lucidity also offers the chance to resolve at last an unfinished business that can turn her life around.

Elora Espano, Rebecca Chuaunsu, and Boo Gabunada

Through Jewel's memories, the film gets to explore the lives of the Chinese community in the Philippines. It also highlights the struggles that the succeeding generations face as they are forced to adhere to Chinese culture and traditions that sometimes clash with the lives they want to carve for themselves.

Tommy Alejandrino and Sophie Ng

Standouts in the film are Elora Españo as Jewel's caregiver Teresa, who puts up with a difficult patient while on the other hand, being a receptive listener to her ward's stories. Noteworthy also is Sophie Ng as the young Jewel capturing the rebellious and carefree nature of a teenager much to the dismay of her conservative Chinese parents. While his screen time was too brief, Tommy Alejandrino made a mark as Dave whose persistence and charm managed to temper Jewel's feistiness.

Benedict Cua, Francis Mata, Roberto Uy Kieng, and Matthew Seaver Choy

As for Rebecca Chuaunsu, her multi-faceted portrayal of the elderly, present day Jewel bagged her a handful of Best Actress trophies from Sinag Maynila 2024, the Festival International du Film Transsaharien de Zagora in Morocco, and the Wu Wei Taipei International Filipino Film Festival in Taiwan. It won't be surprising if she finds herself nominated at local film awards in the future.

The cast of Her Locket

A special screening was recently held at Fishermall in Quezon City with other cast members Boo Gabunada, Sophie Ng, and Francis Mata in attendance. National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts Ricky Lee also graced the event.

The film also stars Jian Repolles, Tommy Alejandrino, Zoey Villamangca, Norman Ong, Nellie Ang See, Angela Villarin, Ashlee Factor, Matthew Seaver Choy, Roberto Uy Kieng, George See, Rolando Inocencio, Atty. Kesterson Kua, Atty. Allan Jao, and Dr. Philip Tan Gatue.

At the post screening panel, Chuaunsu revealed the difficulties she encountered while making the film. She narrated that brainstorming the storyline had to be online via Zoom since it was still during the height of the pandemic. She also recalled that when principal photography wrapped up, her husband became ill. And while the film was in post production editing, he unfortunately passed away. All this and the semi-autobiographical nature of Her Locket made the film very sentimental for Chuaunsu.

In last year's Sinag Maynila, Her Locket dominated the field bringing home 8 awards namely Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Ensemble Acting.

Her Locket, produced by Rebecca Chuaunsu Film Production, in cooperation with Rebelde Films, and distributed by Solar Pictures, opens in cinemas nationwide on January 22, 2025.