As a Mom and as a daughter

There are films you watch for entertainment. There are those you watch because someone dragged you to the cinema. And then there are films like Meet, Greet and Bye, stories that watch you back.

I went to SM Megamall thinking I was there simply to see the premiere. What I wasn’t prepared for was the quiet emotional ambush that came with meeting the Facundos on screen. Their story was not loud, not melodramatic, not exaggerated. It was painfully familiar, like looking at a family picture you’ve seen a thousand times, then suddenly noticing every crack and every soft corner.

But what made the experience unforgettable was this: I watched it with my mom.

We are both mothers now, shaped by different battles but tied by the same thread of love and sacrifice. And yet that night, I wasn’t watching as “a fellow mom.” I was watching as her daughter, the child she carried, the girl she worried over, the woman she still prays for every night.

Motherhood on Screen, Motherhood in Real Life

The movie lays bare the kind of pain families rarely name. The hurt that is tucked under chores, the grief that hides under laughter, the wounds no one admits because love demands silence. In the Facundos, I saw my family. I saw my mother. And unexpectedly, I saw myself.

Recently, I was diagnosed – twice – with uterine polyps. My doctor urged me to seek a second opinion to rule out anything more serious, including whether the polyps could lead to cancer. And though I tried to take it calmly, the fear clung quietly, the way the film’s characters carried their own invisible weights.

As a mom, my first thought was: What will happen to my son if something happens to me?

As a daughter, my immediate instinct was: I have to tell my mom… because no matter how old I get, she deserves to know her child is scared.

Watching Meet, Greet and Bye beside her reminded me of something simple yet profound. Mothers carry pain so their children won’t have to. And daughters, even grown ones, still run to their mothers when the world gets frightening.

A Film That Felt Like Sitting Beside My Mother Again

There’s a moment in the movie where the smallest gesture like a lingering glance, a held breath, a trembling voice, says more than words ever could. That’s exactly how it felt watching with my mom.

No dramatic speeches. No heavy conversations. Just presence. Just love. Just a daughter leaning quietly beside the woman who raised her.

Meet, Greet and Bye isn’t simply about family; it’s about the parts of familyhood we rarely dare to talk about: the messy, healing, hurting, loving contradictions of being someone’s child and someone’s parent at the same time.

Why You Should Watch It

Because this film doesn’t try to impress. It tries to understand.

Watch it if you’re a mother. Or watch it if you’re a son or daughter. Watch it if your family is loud, quiet, complicated, or healing. Watch it if you need a gentle reminder of what love looks like in real life, which is imperfect but enduring.

Showing starting November 12. Bring tissues. Maybe even a shawl. Not for the tears, but for the warmth you’ll want to hold onto.