A fun, entertaining love story

In Hollywood, there are dozens and dozens of great love stories captured on celluloid. In Philippine cinema, we also have our own stories of romance played up on the big screen.

In more recent years, we had Carlos Siguion Reyna’s Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, Don Escudero’s Hindi Magbabago, Olivia Lamasan’s Sana Maulit Muli and Jose Javier Reyes’ May Minamahal and Radio Romance. For Valentine’s Day, you may want to check out Yam Laranas’ Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon produced by Viva Films.

The film is a romantic story of two people in love. The woman (played by Regine Velasquez) is a plain Jane with absolutely no life. She has No grace, no charm and definitely no suitors, admirers and gentleman callers. Hers is the most boring existence on the surface of the earth. At the Manila Central Post Office where she works, she sits behind her desk doing the most unchallenging task of rubberstamping letters all day. She also spends her lunch break alone (on a park bench) because nobody wants to eat with her. Her boarding house is where she, at least feels the love and care of foster parents Luz Valdez and Berting Labra. (Even her own biological mother no longer wants to have anything to do with her.)

The man (Richard Gomez) in this love story – in contrast – has a lot going for him: good looks, a profession he likes (golf instructor) and a loving family (parents Jaime Fabregas and Liza Lorena and sister Tanya Garcia). His only problem is that he easily falls in love and falls out of it just as fast – that is, until he meets his one true love in the person of the hopelessly clumsy Regine Velasquez, whom he finds to be beautiful inside.

The film’s idea of having an Adonis falling for a dork of a woman actually holds a lot of promise. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t utilize to its fullest extent this germ of an idea. I guess we can blame this on the writing and some directorial lapses.

The film’s early part, for instance, is a bit cumbersome to watch because of the long exposition which results into a painfully slow start.

Mercifully, the movie begins to pick up as soon as Richard’s family enters the frame. All of a sudden, the whole thing livens up – what with Richard Gomez’s wonderful interaction with Liza Lorena, Jaime Fabregas and Tanya Garcia who all give spirited performance.

Actually, the best parts of the film are those with Richard and his family because each of those scenes is rich in positive Filipino values. Ikaw Lamang, undeniably, is heavily influenced by Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts movies (You’ve Got Mail, Nottinghill, etc.) But Laranas balances off the obvious contemporary Hollywood influences by injecting into the film honest-to-goodness Pinoy culture without necessarily being preachy. (However, I do have a quarrel with the film over the way Regine Velasquez and Richard Gomez vandalize public property in those parts where they write on a wooden park bench. But I guess we should not just close our eyes to this and consider it part of the so-called cinematic license).

And like any Yam Laranas project (Balahibong Pusa and Radyo), the production values of Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon are seamless – particularly the photography, sound and music. This movie is really a feast for the eyes. Even the deteriorating city of Manila and the murky Pasig River have never been photographed this beautifully.

The score and the theme song Hanggang Ngayon by Ogie Alcasid (as sung by Ogie and Regine) also help a lot in setting the feel-good atmosphere of the movie.

Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon isn’t really a big ambitious film project. It’s actually just a little romantic movie that can hardly even be described as the greatest love story ever told. But it has its moments of fun, entertainment and romance. The perfect date movie, I have to say. And I bet this is going to be the biggest box-office draw when it opens next week in local movie theaters – just right in time for Valentine.