Welcome to What to Watch Right Now, our weekly rundown of the best things to watch right now. The constant stream of shows, videos, and films to watch online can become a sludge to wade through, so here are a few things you can watch courtesy of theRolling Stone Philippines team. Whether it’s a new film, a video essay, or even a home video release you should own (physical media is now available!), we hope it can ease the burden of choosing which streaming platform to use or of discovering a new cinematic odyssey.
This week, works of “absolute cinema” like Resurrection had us running into cinemas. Rom-coms were also at the front of our minds now that it’s February, and so we visited old nostalgic flicks like Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo and turned to more recent (and perhaps more daring) releases like Pillion. And for those looking for a way to feel warm and cozy for roughly 30 minutes, I’ll point you in the direction of the latest special of The Muppet Show.
Resurrection
The meme ‘absolute cinema’ was invented for films like this
Bi Gan’s Resurrection is what a pure distillation of cinema looks like — a journey into a world where a visionary filmmaker conjures five chapters of unadulterated imaginings that slingshot through the history of cinema and imagination itself. Resurrection begins with a homage to silent films, grounding the story of the succeeding chapters. Here, we are taken into a distant future where humans have figured out a way to be immortal by discarding dreaming altogether. But there are some, called Deliriants, who still live and die by these nocturnal fantasies. This “monster” (Jackson Yee) is captured by a Big Other (Shu Qi) who can discern these rebels (kind of like the police officers hunting Replicants in Blade Runner). Loading the Deliriant with a film projector, we follow him through various dream-states, from a musical-bodied fugitive to a hoodlum mesmerized by a vampire.
Of course, the crowning jewel of the film is the long take that takes us through red-tinged streets to a sunrise—a filmic flex that isn’t merely a tool but an immersive shot that reminds us of the magic cinema still holds in the age of streaming and micro-shorts. Watch it on the big screen, please. —Don Jaucian
The Muppet Show (2026)
Like hugging your best friends after they’ve been gone for so long
It’s been a long time since the Muppet Theater has been dusted off and lit up, but thank God Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg decided it was time to get the ol’ Muppet gang back together. The half-hour variety special brought back all the cozy, earnest, DIY elements that made Jim Henson’s original The Muppet Show such a joy to watch: convoluted sketches that go absolutely wrong (Gonzo’s rollerskating act shooting him backwards), guest stars hanging out backstage with their favorite Muppets (Sabrina Carpenter and Miss Piggy in a diva-off), and a stressed-out Kermit trying to keep everything up and running. It’s unclear if this special will lead to a reboot of the entire series, and even the Muppets seem to be aware of their limited time onstage. But when our favorite frog leads his friends in a heartfelt rendition of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” you can’t help but want them to stay forever. —Mel Wang
Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo
A comedy of errors where the bride and groom are the only ones who want the wedding
Very little goes right in Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo. The 20-year-old rom-com, directed by Jose Javier Reyes, follows Angie (Judy Ann Santos) and Jed (Ryan Agoncillo), two completely different people who fall in love a little too quickly and decide to get married to stop Jed from having to move to the United States with his parents. Of course, everyone has something to say about their engagement, and the funniest parts of the movie come from both sides of the couple’s families trying to force them into calling the whole thing off. There’s Belita (Gina Pareño), Angie’s batutay-making mother (and kagawad, which she needs everyone to know), who can’t stop reminding her daughter that all men are cheating pigs. Jed’s pearl-clutching mother, Charito (Gloria Diaz), isn’t much better, and she spends a lot of the movie taking sly jabs at Angie’s upbringing.
Somehow, Angie and Jed get the marriage that they want, more or less. They’re a surprisingly tender couple, especially when they’re not being bombarded by their respective in-laws’ complaints. My one big qualm is the twist that crops up in the final act: while I understand that this movie was made in a different time (2006) and that Filipino rom-coms have never been known for their unproblematic storylines, the twist makes me feel like Angie deserved so much better. But if I close my eyes for the movie’s last 20 minutes, it’s like it never happened. —Mel Wang
Pillion
The sexiest and saddest dom-com du jour
Pillion, Harry Lighton’s feature directorial debut, is at once sexy, tense, funny, and sad. An adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novel Box Hill, it follows a wallflower named Colin (Harry Melling), who meets biker dom, Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) and becomes his sub. Throughout their relationship, Colin is made to join a BDSM biker club, cook and clean, and sleep on the rug at night, but his biggest challenge is not getting infatuated with the cold, unfeeling Ray.
But of course, Colin catches feelings. “Next to you I am nothing, but I’m yours all the same,” he writes in a poem. Melling and Skarsgård have a special chemistry, even though Skarsgård’s character spends most of his airtime rigid and tight-lipped when the two are not having hot, rough sex. I’d argue that Pillion is a movie that isn’t as interested in power as it is in intimacy, and it’s nice to fantasize for a moment that, despite his stoicism, Ray might love Colin, too. —Pie Gonzaga
