Laurice Guillen Movies

Five Filipino-American friends living in New York City deal with love, sex, friendship, careers, and cultural identity in this romantic comedy-drama directed by veteran Philippine actress Laurice Guillen. Tere Sanchez (Cherry Pie Picache) is an accountant who is in her early forties, single, and not especially happy about it. Tere is an excellent cook, and often throws dinner parties for her friends, and the arrival of her old friend Lorna (Sol Oca) from Manila is all the reason she needs to invite her friends over for a feast. Mike (Christopher De Leon) is a former political journalist who is now enjoying the fruits of a lucrative career as a newspaper editor, but he wonders if he left his principles behind along the way; he's also feeling unfulfilled in his marriage to Gigi (Susan Valdez-LeGoff). Gerry (Ricky Davao) is a advertising copywriter who is afraid to tell his friends and family that he's gay, though circumstances may well drive him out of the closet. Raul (Paolo Montalban) is a good-looking ladies' man who prefers to date Caucasians, and lacks a certain amount of emotional maturity. And Marissa (Dina Bonnevie) is on the surface a well-to-do social butterfly; however, deep inside she's woefully insecure, and is afraid to confront her boyfriend Sam (Randy Becker) about his constant infidelity. Meanwhile, Lorna confesses that while she's married to a wealthy man in Manila, she's terribly unhappy, and is considering staying in America as an illegal alien. American Adobo was the first American-Philippine co-production to open in three major American cities at once (New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco); incidentally, adobo is a spicy chicken or pork dish popular in the Philippines. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Philippine drama chronicles the colorful life of Dolzura Cortez, the first publicly recognized AIDS patient in the Philippines. The film begins with a brief examination of Cortez's pre-AIDS life. Initially she lived in a small village with her cruel husband and three kids. The spunky woman leaves them and moves to the big city where she engages in several affairs. Her second marriage to a rich foreigner does not last long. To support her children, Dolly begins an all woman "contract worker" agency. This also serves to facilitate her love of night-life. Tragedy comes to Dolzura after she collapses on a dance floor one night and learns that she has full-blown AIDS. At a Manila hospital she meets ex-lover Paulo, an AIDS researcher who encourages to tell her story publicly. The courageous woman does and she becomes instrumental in spreading AIDS awareness to the islands. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young man has an innate love for music that is being thwarted by a domineering father who wants him to become a biologist. Just as he is trying to come to grips with this contradiction, he meets a married woman visiting a friend of his and the two are attracted to each other. Unable to resist their feelings, they form a brief liaison that helps the woman face the inevitability of a divorce from her overbearing husband and equally helps the young man to look at himself in a different light. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this Filipino comedy, an extra-large older woman who runs an orphanage pairs with a younger, smaller man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide