There’s one thing almost every Filipina girl, me included, has spent their whole youth dreaming about: the day they turn 18 and have their debut — a traditional coming of age celebration marking a young girl’s first steps into adulthood. Netflix’s original Filipino film, “18th Rose,” which released on the streaming platform on April 9, 2026, captures the awkwardness of teenage excitement caught in the debut grandeur, while also navigating life’s unexpected challenges. Despite having a cheesy beginning, the movie satisfyingly settled into a meaningful and heartfelt plot.
Set in the early 2000’s in Romblon, an island in the Philippines, the movie follows bubbly local Rose (Xyriel Manabat), who works at her uncle’s internet cafe to save up for her debut and her disparaging first interaction with the frustrated, foreign new guy in town, Jordan (Kyle Echarri) who moved from America with his mom for work. After starting off on the wrong foot, the two become sparring rivals.
They attempt to get back at one another, attacking with water blasters, putting rocks into backpacks and at large, Rose’s refusal to let Jordan use a computer at the internet cafe — Jordan’s kryptonite, as contacting his dad in America is his only chance at escape from Romblon. While this felt extremely cliche and unrealistic, each infraction was shot in a time lapse sequencing style that made it feel like humorously playing cat and mouse. It paid homage to the style of cheesy 2000s movies, especially Filipino ones. The beginning felt very slow paced. However, we see their rivalry and Jordan’s clear imposter syndrome as he speaks only English, not the primary Filipino dialect Tagalog (although, he completely understands Tagalog as others speak to him) before getting to any actual plot. It made it hard to stay engaged.
As Rose realizes Jordan’s situation and feels pity for him, she concocts a two-way deal: to help Jordan impress and win over his dad to help him out of Romblon so she can get paid to add to her debut fund. I thought their partnership came sort of randomly, with a lingering elephant in the room of their previous animosity being left unmentioned.
She strategizes with three main goals: to make Jordan class president, get him featured in the newspaper and get him his dream career of becoming an actor. Following his successful campaign, it is evident that they are beginning to fall for one another as they begin to become closer and more genuine with one another. The actors Echarri and Manabat had great romantic chemistry with one another that had me smiling at their interactions, and the plot started to pick up a lot more making me invested with what was to follow.
I also admire the cultural representation scenes brought attention to, such as Filipino traditions of courtship or making harana — a practice where a guy serenades a woman he is “courting” to express his intentions to have a relationship and win her and her family over. Jordan dresses in a traditional Filipino barong and he sings in Tagalog, marking a major character turning point of learning to embrace his Filipino roots. The production team did an excellent job in portraying this scene in a sweet and non-cringey approach. He proposes that Rose allows him to become her debut escort, which I felt brought the plot back to the idea of the debut rather than about Jordan’s life.
Despite all that is well with Rose and Jordan’s budding new relationship and Jordan finally being in touch with his father, Rose suddenly tells Jordan that she has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Because the trajectory of the movie had let up from the enemies-to-friends, and from friends-to-lovers as a romantic trope, this was a serious note that felt unexpected and took a more depressing turn. Her cancer put a pin in her debut plans, and she finds an opportunity for Jordan to join the star-finding show, “Star Seekers” to complete the final stage of their plans. I was left wanting to know anxiously what would happen next after he had won the show.
In lieu of her last chemotherapy treatment, Rose is surprised by Jordan who throws a grand debut for her — and also surprises her with a shaved head and they share a traditional waltz. A scene that stood out was when Jordan finally said “I love you” to Rose and told her she meant more than the American dream he had been chasing for the entire movie, and the scene cuts to Jordan and Rose at the airport, seemingly months after the debut. The ending was left sort of ambiguous, as it is understood that while Rose passes, it is unclear if the debut was simply a dream or a reality which weighed on me.
This movie definitely had its moments where it suffered from tackier writing, but it definitely got saved by ending on an unexpected and meaningful note. I felt that her sickness reflected a larger theme at hand, the value in life over materialism and popularity, attributed to a debut. I enjoyed the chemistry shared between the actors, while I feel more representation could be mentioned of the actual debut traditions. Some of the major traditions are 18 roses where the debutante dances with 18 important men in her life and 18 candles, where 18 important women light candles of wisdom for the debutante. I would rate the movie a 3.5/5 stars, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a romantic drama.
