To those unfamiliar with Filipino folklore, some of the scenes in Rain (2019) might feel kooky, with horse heads and giant eggs and the personification of a typhoon popping up occasionally in between Maya’s quest for love. Even fans of Filipino romantic dramas and love teams might be taken aback by the last third of the film, which doesn’t take the usual route in the genre. But these eccentric choices work to characterize Maya as someone who loves being in love, as someone who grew up on mythology and fantasy to cope with the difficulties of life, as someone who nevertheless keeps that belief despite the terribleness of the mundane, the mismanaged inconveniences that pile up, and, of course, the multiple heartbreaks that she faces. It may be strange and unexpected, but Ulan is just one of the most unique Filipino romances ever created.

Irene Villamor is known best for her understated romance dramas that focus more on the dynamic formed between day-to-day conversations, spontaneous connections, and time and location specific contexts– which makes Ulan all the more surprising, considering how fantastic, how ambitious, and how visually different Ulan is compared to the rest of her work. It’s a risk that paid off creatively, but it’s also a risk I wish she would take again.