After it came out as the winner of the 2017 Cinema One Originals Audience Choice award last year (as well as bagging Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director trophies among others), there could only be high hopes for Changing Partners, the indie that brought out the most “hugot” from audiences.

Originally based on a stage reading in 2016 which became a full-length play before it was brought to the big screen, Changing Partners aims to tell the story of a seemingly ordinary couple, 45-year-old Alex and 29-year-old Cris who have been living together for the past six years. The two characters have straight and gay versions, with the older Alex played by Agot Isidro and Jojit Lorenzo and the younger Cris by Anna Luna and Sandino Martin.

The movie shows the same two people in different variations (for instance, straight female Alex and straight male Cris in one scene then cut to gay male Alex and gay male Cris in the next) going through the routine of daily life and dealing with the same issues like their 15-year age gap, the economic differences, their past experiences, and most importantly, trust issues.

On the surface, the movie looks complex but as the story moves along the viewer realizes that there is a little bit of Alex and Cris in all of us, that we don’t necessarily have to side with either of them when it comes to how we view love, trust, and fidelity. In this movie, gender is not made a factor in the strengths and weakness of one’s character. Love manifests itself with many faces, leaving it up to the viewer to decide who was right and wrong.

Changing Partners is a must-see not just because it has an interesting take on what it means to be part of a couple, and not even because the cast won Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best in Ensemble Acting at Cinema One Originals (which was rightfully deserved) for the standout performances of Agot Isidro, Jojit Lorenzo, Sandino Martin, and Anna Luna. You should watch the movie because of its genuine acting, wonderful music, standout screenplay, and great direction. This film shows what the impact of hurtful words and failure of trust is to a relationship. If you want a story that proves that love is always a constantly changing and evolving thing, with no clear protagonists or villains, then this is the film you should not fail to see.