ast year, GMA Films came up with a Valentine's Day offering, Let the Love Begin, which starred Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin. Aside from winning critical acclaim (it had very good reviews), Let the Love Begin was also the biggest hit of 2005.

This year, GMA Films' Valentine's Day (actually pre-Valentine) presentation is another Richard-Gutierrez-Angel Locsin movie called I Will Always Love You. By joining forces with Regal, which is now a co-producer, the GMA Films movie has gotten bigger in terms of budget and this we see in all those scenes shot in romantic San Francisco. As a result, I Will Always Love You seems like it will surpass the box-office success last year of Let the Love Begin. In spite of yesterday's rains (which is strange because it hardly rains in February), the film is doing very good business at the tills.

Directed by Mac Alejandre (he was also responsible for the fine work that was Let the Love Begin), I Will Always Love You begins by showing how Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin had known each other since childhood, except that there was a long separation between them during the time they were growing up. Angel, who had always been poor, remained in the province, while rich boy Richard had to be sent to the United States to study.

Now in their mid-teens (the film covers even the period when they've become young adults), they rediscover each other and their re-acquaintance isn't all that pleasant. Angel, though poor, is responsible – graduating valedictorian in high school.

In total contrast is Richard, who is a brat, a humbug and a hopeless playboy. How Angel hates his guts – and for good reason.

But love changes all that.

Finally finding his one true love, Richard turns in a new leaf for the sake of Angel.

They still have a problem though. Richard's aristocratic mother, Jean Garcia, doesn't approve of Angel since the girl doesn't come from the same social class. (That may sound very komiks, but I think it still happens in some prominent families today – new money and old). To make sure Richard is separated from Angel, Jean sends her son back to the United States to study pronto.

But the oh-so-in love Richard puts one over his mother and secretly brings Angel with him to the US where they both study. It's not an easy life for them though because Richard – so unused to manual labor being of rich stock – has to work being an all-around guy (including cleaning the toilet) in a supermarket to be able to support Angel. This added touch of sacrifice on the part of the young lovers actually makes the story even more appealing as a Valentine's Day movie.

For those of you who have yet to watch I Will Always Love You, the best way to enjoy it is to see it as a Valentine movie, where love is practically written all over the screen. It is a film that will be appreciated by people in love – especially those who have given so much of themselves in the name of love.

The one thing you can say about I Will Always Love You is that it doesn't pretend to be anything else, but a film to thrill the fans of Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin – and those in love. And how they succeed. Each scene is staged in a manner that would thrill endlessly the hopeless romantics – especially so in those sequences shot in San Francisco .

I have to say, however, that this film would never have succeeded without the wonderful performances of the two lead stars – Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin. Angel – though she could have been better photographed in some scenes – gives a very convincing performances as a poor love-struck girl. On the part of Richard Gutierrez, this young actor keeps getting better and better with his every film outing. It's his eyes that are his best assets because you see his soul in them. Here you realize what a good actor he has become because he is able to take into his heart and into his soul his screen character and you see this in the film.

And more than the performances of the lead stars, what props up this film is the on screen chemistry of Richard and Angel. They may be involved romantically with other people in real life, but in the movie even the most jaded viewer will be convinced that they are truly in love.

For those looking for a good Valentine date on a budget, I Will Always Love You is highly recommended. Of course, it is not a perfect film and it has lapses here and there in the screenplay. Just don't look for sound reason in some loopholes because love knows no reason. Simply enjoy it as a romantic film that will no doubt thrill you in this season of love.

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