From the director of 100 Tula Para Kay Stella (2017) comes How to Love Mr. Heartless, a love story that seems to have passed under the radar.

Writer-director Jason Paul Laxamana's latest romantic drama, currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is about two college students, the fatherless Yan-Yan (Sue Ramirez, who looks too mature for a college girl) and Blue (Diego Loyzaga), a socially inept genius who alienates his classmates by responding to conversations with cold scientific facts.

Siri has more warmth than the snobby, robotic Blue and his scholarly verbal diarrhea.

It is not established whether Blue has Asperger's, but later it shows why his guard is always up and he avoids emotional connection by hiding behind logical explanations.

When Blue saves Yan's life by treating her deep, infected wounds and she miraculously survives without antibiotics, she develops an attachment to the good-looking, "heartless" man.

Yan, thinking the way to Blue's heart is through his stomach, cooks for him every day, but Blue rejects her every single time. Only when Yan gives up on him does he begin to pursue her.

Heavy on production design (Yan's house looks like a resort) and featuring scenes with extreme color grading and visual effects, the movie is often enveloped in a "fantasy filter."

There's a sense of anticipation while we wait for Mr. Heartless to finally warm up to Yan. It's just that when Blue's heart is finally thawed and he reciprocates Yan's feelings, it feels abrupt, like a light switch has been flicked and he's suddenly telling her to call him "baby."

There are minor giddy moments, but the film's greater appeal is the duo's dramatic, emotionally rich backstory. But while their individual characters are well-developed, their connection feels superficial. When Blue tells Yan that his mother (Yayo Aguila) is undergoing dialysis, for instance, she doesn't seem interested enough to ask questions.

He also doesn't have that much curiosity about Yan's life.

The climax is bizarre as Blue doesn't seem to care if Yan, the supposed love of his life, will witness a traumatic event that he scheduled for a specific time.

Equally bizarre is how Blue's mom has been on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for 10 years (a crucial plot device) when she has a bunch of relatives surrounding her that could have been a match and donated one of their kidneys to save her life.

How to Love Mr. Heartless is never boring but is too focused on the duo's individual trauma that it forgets basic facts. For a movie that spews a string of logical explanations, this one has glaring, illogical elements.

2 out of 5 stars