and i love you so

Synopsis: A widowed preschool teacher still depressed over the loss of her husband strikes up a friendship with a man who has also just lost his spouse. The two help each other deal with their sadness, and soon find a new love growing between them.

Main Cast: Bea Alonzo, Derek Ramsay, Sam Milby
Director: Laurenti M. Dyogi
Writer: Jacqui Franquelli, Vanessa Valdez
Producer: Carmi Raymundo, Charo Santos-Concio, Elma S. Medua, Kara U. Kintanar, Malou N. Santos
Release Date: 2009
Released By: Star Cinema
Running Time: 2 hours

i watched this movie last thursday with my office mate, A. star cinema has been producing a better quality of movies (and love stories) for the past few years and i've watched most of them. this new one from bea and sam is just like the typical love story except that this movie was tackling a more serious issue than the fluffy cheesy pinoy romances. the movie started easily, showing how bea and derek met until they got married and derek later died. i dont think derek and bea had much chemistry, i felt that their scenes were too cheesy that i was cringing a bit. i guess they need to show that derek was the perfect husband and they were so in love that bea could not move on after he died.

then enter sam milby. the hot and sexy, long haired motorcycle-riding playboy, who "lost" his wife recently. he needed a place to stay and rented bea's marital condo. from the first moment sam met bea, he was definitely interested, while bea was still the grieving widow. they started fighting, with bea being feisty and uptight while sam was dashing with a devil-may-care attitude. eventually they became close until they fell in love. well, sam fell first while bea kept denying her feelings because she thinks she is betraying her late husband's memory. then came the twist (sam mentioned early on that his wife didnt die, they separated because he caught her cheating with her ex) when his wife came back begging him for a second chance. this of course shocked bea and she got angry with sam (sam did tell her about it before but bea fell asleep and didnt hear his story).

the audience will learn that sam's wife still loved her ex but sam pushed her too fast that she married him when she was clearly not over her ex. sam felt anguished that he was second best in his marriage and now he is still second best against bea's late husband (who bea wont forget) that he finally told bea to stop longing for derek because he will never come back. and that he is here, he loves her and he doesn't want to be second best any longer. bea finally realising this, let derek go but then told sam that she doesn't want to get in a relationship with him unless she fully loves him and so they went their separate ways.

a few years later, they met again and this time they finally got together. of course, this is a star cinema movie! of course the end will be a happy ending :) filipino movies have been dropping a lot of quotable quotes lately (esp one more chance with john lloyd and bea) and this one had some memorable quotes ("just because you loved him longer doesn't mean i love him any less" and bea's long monologue for sam). after a series of hits with love team john lloyd (who was successful in his last 2 pairing with sarah geronimo), this movie showed that bea is capable of making it on her own without john lloyd. she was the perfect match to sam's character. i think they had a lot of chemistry, but i dont think her acting was any better than her previous movies. derek was an eye candy but he still can't act. sam, meanwhile improved a lot. he just need to learn to speak straight tagalog with the american accent and speak less english or it ruins his speech.

the soundtrack was a bit dramatic on some parts and was unnecessary, and there were some shots that were awkward. bea's friends were funny (candy and the big toothed girl - providing lots of laugh out loud moments).

i also liked how they showed how different people react to similar situation. for ex, while bea couldn't stop crying and mourning over the loss of her husband, sam was out playing the field with different girls after his wife cheated on him. it was realistic take on what could actually happen.

overall, this is a solid movie, a mix of cheesy romance, heartfelt dialogue and funny moments. a definite watch for pinoy movie goers :)