A Very Special Love

I agree with top 2 reviews. Also, i am like many pinoys who barely watch pinoy movies because they've been exposed to the romantic-action/ romantic-comedy with rehashed script/massacre film type cinema. TBH i saw this because a friend of mine wrote the script. And I was not disappointed BECAUSE it was so well done.

i think it wasn't the scripts fault. Both lloydie and sarah g are natural actors and extremely charming on screen individually. i dislike bea alonzo, whose forte is limited to drama, and/or juday whose staple acting skills is limited to that of a palengkera...even if shes a really good one. Sarah G is a happy medium, except she doesn't have the sexy factor -- which renders the script useless because, character-wise, a model-dating rich boy like lloydie's character will probably be shallow enough to dismiss his EA just because she wasn't attractive enough. She is too wholesome to be in this role.

(you can imagine sexy scenes with bea and lloydie... how about lloydie and sarah? *crickets*) i just didn't think SarahG and Lloydie suited each other, period. if you've ever seen The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, or Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds in the Proposal, it's was kind of like that. A really good love story should have passion and sex (not necessarily sex scenes) exploding from their eyes.

STRANGELY ENOUGH, despite that fact, i found the scenes endearing-almost cringe-worthy, "kilig" and relatable. THey had NO sexy scenes nor did they have kissing scenes... and that is EXTREMELY CLEVER DIRECTING / ACTING / SCRIPT considering it is a love story. The director put in this very short dream sequence during the meeting which I find to be inspired by anime. I literally chortled. it was refreshing. Sarah's character was refreshing. And sometimes, well sometimes you don't really need sex scenes (or kissing scenes, for that matter) for a good love story.

Everyone just wants to live out their own inner Cinderella, and they don't have to be of the poor class to dream.

A Filipino comedy romance film starring John Lloyd Cruz and Sarah Geronimo. The film was directed by Cathy Garcia Molina.

Geronimo plays a cute young woman who lands the job of Editorial Assistant to a young handsome, but tyrannical boss played by Cruz, who runs "Bachelor", a magazine for men. Our editor gets more tyrannical and insensitive to the feelings of his staff as he is pressured by his corporate bosses to come up with a winning anniversary edition of the magazine, or lose his job.

To complicate matters, our young editor is the illegitimate son of the magnate of the publishing house that owns "Bachelor", whose legal son is also an executive director. The character played by Cruz, was adopted into the upper crust family when his mother died. He continues to visit her grave.

The young new hire editorial assistant succeeds during the duration of the movie, in breaking down her bosses hard-nosed attitudes and helps him discover his concealed sensitivities.

This story formula has been told countless times on the big stream in every corner of the world.

Surprisingly, however, this 105-minute long film grabs your attention from start to finish, albeit with the ending being predicted from minute 5. Not an easy job for moviemakers.

Geronimo and Cruz very convincingly perform a series of rollercoaster emotions that fluctuate from sadness to romance to glee; and back again. Good actors with a strong screen presence.

I used to hate watching romantic films, especially those Filipino romance movies, because they are too mainstream. Usually, in movies of the same genre, the actors and actresses appear to be overacting, the dialogues are clichéd, the story lines are hackneyed, and the crises are stereotyped. However, this movie is quite different. It just showed that Filipinos can also create their own quality movie.

First: We can clearly see the good acting skills of both John Lloyd Cruz (as Miggy Montenegro) and Sarah Geronimo (as Laida Magtalas). The comedic lines were inserted very smoothly that makes the audience laugh in no time. Such is a great talent, because not everyone can make someone laugh. Also, their portrayals of heavy dramatic scenes were very sharp and bold. Even if one has no experience about love or family rivalry, it is undeniable that almost everyone can relate to their story.

Second: The storyline was well-founded. I love the fact that the producers finally thought of mixing genres so that the flow of the movie will be as exciting as it should be. The combination of having a family drama and romance is already good, but adding comedy is excellent. At least, they are valiant enough to try a different mix of sorts to give the audience new tastes of quality Pinoy movies.

Third: The scenes were virtuous to produce a movie that was never seen in the Philippine cinema ever before. Finally, the altering of clips from the traditional Filipino romance films has come. It is a great feeling that you can feel the 'kilig factor' with the new movie formula they were able to formulate.

Being a technical critic, I would only reprobate some switching of scenes where the lighting and the amount of rainfall changes between clips. I think they could have improved this one because it is quite obvious that the sun is shining on one clip and when it turned to a different angle, it turned darker.

Also, I'd criticize the cinematography. There was not much camera rolling techniques that was used in the movie. Either way, I think this one is not much necessary for a romantic film because still cameras may do for such kind of movie.

Generally, I'd give it a score of 7.

RATED 3/10 Language: Filipino Source: Netflix

Run of the mill story and wooden acting. I was tempted to see this movie based on the reviews but its total let down. The story and scenes are seen in multiple movies in multiple countries, but this one felt very uninteresting.

I have been away from the Philippines for 22 years. I hated watching Filipino films because they are too loud, the acting is non-existent, everybody talks at the same time, the soundtrack overwhelms the dialogues, the plot is just impossible.

This movie happens to be one of those exceptions. Just as any romantic Filipino movie, this one is schmaltzy, cheesy and full of the kilig factor. Well, we're Filipinos, so what? But this one is well-made. The acting of everyone is not exaggerated. Sarah G is a delight to watch showing different range of emotions without going the OA route. John Lloyd's acting is restrained, multi-dimensional, which is a break from most Philippine actors. He also exudes a magnetic screen presence. It is one of those films that I did not fast-forward.

I wish we can make lots of Filipino films like this one.