"Walang sigurado, pero minsan, kailangan mo lang maniwala."
This line was spoken by Mika (Julia Barretto) in the 2017 romance drama film Love You to the Stars and Back, directed by Antoinette Jadaone.
The story follows Mika, a young woman still struggling to move on from the death of her mother (Carmina Villarroel). Holding on to a belief they once shared about the existence of aliens, Mika becomes convinced that if she is taken by them, she will one day be reunited with her mother and finally escape the pain she has carried since losing her. Unable to accept the changes in her life after her father (Ariel Rivera) remarries Sheryl (Maricar Reyes), she sets out for Mount Milagros, hoping the extraordinary will lead her back to the person she misses the most.
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Her journey unexpectedly leads her to Caloy (Joshua Garcia), a leukemia patient who is traveling to see the father who abandoned him years ago. Their first meeting is far from ideal after Mika accidentally injures Caloy with her car. Feeling guilty, she offers him a ride, unknowingly beginning a journey that would change both of their lives.
As they travel together, the two slowly open up about the emotional burdens they have been carrying.
While Mika desperately searches for a way to ease the grief of losing her mother, Caloy struggles with the physical and emotional weight of his illness. He continues to worry about becoming a burden to his family, especially after learning that his mother (Cherry Pie Picache) has once again borrowed money to support his medication.
Despite their constant teasing and playful arguments, Mika and Caloy gradually become each other's source of comfort.
After Caloy's estranged father refuses to see him, his heartbreak pushes him to join Mika on her unusual mission to Mount Milagros, where she believes aliens will finally come for them.
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Along the way, Mika enthusiastically teaches Caloy how she believes they can be abducted. According to her, they simply have to reach the summit of the mountain, stand beneath the sky, and chant for the aliens to hear them.
Although the chant is something she made up herself, Caloy chooses to play along.
As they imagine what life would be like after being taken away, Mika shares that perhaps there would no longer be pain. She also quietly hopes she could see her mother again.
Curious but doubtful, Caloy asks if she is certain that everything she believes will truly happen.
It is then that Mika gives her answer and delivers one of the film's most memorable lines: "Walang sigurado, pero minsan, kailangan mo lang maniwala."
The line became one of the film's defining moments because it spoke far beyond Mika's belief in aliens. At its core, it is about choosing hope in the face of uncertainty.
For Mika, believing was never simply about extraterrestrial life. It became the only way she knew how to cope with losing her mother. Holding on to the possibility that aliens existed also meant holding on to the hope that death was not truly the end, and that somewhere beyond everything she knew, she might one day see her mother again. It was the faith that allowed her to keep moving forward despite carrying a grief she could not yet let go of.
As the story unfolds, however, the meaning of her words begins to change.
Mika eventually learns that faith is not always about believing that things will happen exactly as we imagine them. Sometimes, it is about trusting that life still has something beautiful waiting even if it takes us somewhere completely different. She never finds the aliens she had spent years searching for, but her journey leads her to Caloy, someone who understands pain and loss just as deeply as she does.
Meanwhile, for Caloy, the line carries an entirely different meaning.
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Having leukemia and continuing to battle its effects, he constantly lives with uncertainty. Every treatment, every hospital visit, and every dream for the future comes with the possibility that things may not go as planned. Through Mika, however, he slowly learns that believing is not about denying reality but finding the courage to keep living despite it. Her optimism reminds him that even when life offers no guarantees, hope is still worth holding on to.
Soon after, Mika and Caloy find themselves lost in the woods as they search for Mount Milagros, pushing them to find another place to stay and just continue their adventure the next day.
However, before they can fulfill Mika's dream, Caloy collapses the next morning after his condition worsens. Refusing to let him give up, Mika rushes him to the hospital despite his insistence that he does not want to become a financial burden on his family.
While undergoing a bone marrow transplant, Caloy dreams of finally reaching the summit with Mika and being taken by the aliens they had talked about throughout their journey.
When he wakes up, however, he learns that Mika has already left after helping raise funds for his treatment. Before leaving, she entrusts Goldie and a letter to him, sharing that he had given her a reason to keep living and expressing her hope that he would also find his own.
After recovering, Caloy returns to Mount Milagros. This time, instead of finding aliens, he finds Mika waiting for him.
By the film's ending, Mika's belief has come full circle.
She sets out hoping that aliens would rescue her from her pain and reunite her with her mother. Instead, life gives her something she never expected: a reason to stay. Through Caloy, she rediscovers hope, reconnects with the people she still has, and realizes that healing does not always come from escaping grief but from learning to live with it.
In the end, Love You to the Stars and Back gently reminds audiences that sometimes the things we believe in do not arrive in the form we expect. Faith may not always lead us to the answers we are searching for, but it often leads us to the people, the experiences, and the purpose that help us move forward.
The film also stood out for offering a fresh take on the romantic drama genre.
Instead of following the usual formula, Direk Tonet built the story around a deeply personal road trip that explored grief, faith, family, illness, and healing.
During a media conference, she shared how the concept had been with her for years before it finally became a film. According to her, she once became interested in the sci-fi genre, which gave her the idea to make a movie that is intimate and low-cost in terms of special effects.
She also admitted that the project challenged her creatively because it was unlike the typical romantic films produced by Star Cinema.
“It’s a challenge because sobrang nagulat ako that a concept like this was approved by Star Cinema. I needed to make sure that this would work. It’s a story that’s close to my heart. We fought for this concept so nakaka-challenge na puwedeng maging pelikula sa Star Cinema ‘yung ganito na dalawang tao lang talaga yung nag-uusap,” she said. “They just meet people along the way. Road trip movie."
She continued that Caloy's character was inspired by a real person. To accurately portray his illness, she extensively researched leukemia and consulted oncologists and a bone marrow transplant specialist, even asking two doctors to review her screenplay before finalizing it.
“It was like making my first film again. Siguro ganun talaga when you get a chance to do a film that you really like,” she said.
The story resonated with audiences upon its release. Within a week, the film earned ₱60 million at the box office and surpassed the ₱100 million mark after just two weeks, becoming one of Julia and Joshua's biggest blockbuster hits. It was also screened in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia before making its festival debut at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March 2018.