April 2, 2024
Subic Bay Yacht Club acting front manager Deo (Baron Geisler) and band singer Shel (Cristine Reyes) were living together with their two sons. Gelo (Tyro Gabriel Daylusan) was their biological child, while junior high student Nathan (Charles Law) was Shel's son from her ex Keith (Felix Roco). On some weekends, they are joined by two more kids -- Levi (Robbie Wachtel) and Trixie (Althea Ruedas), Deo's kids from his ex Rhoan (Phoebe Walker).
This complicated family drama by co-written and directed by Marla Ancheta. She had an auspicious directorial debut in 2020, when her "Finding Agnes" premiered on Netflix, and was actually my #1 Filipino film of that year (MY LIST). Her third film "Doll House" (MY REVIEW) became very popular when it premiered on Netflix in 2022, starring a newly-reformed Baron Geisler and child actress Althea Ruedas, both of whom are also here in "Dearly Beloved."
Geisler's Deo was a proud man, loyal and dedicated at work, mild-mannered and sweet to his wife, and a responsible father to his children. It was very easy for audiences to side with him when life started to deal him bad cards and things started to fall apart. Geisler was very natural in his performance, playing Deo with dignified restraint. That one scene when Deo finally released the emotions he had been holding back will get Geisler cited for awards.
Cristine Reyes's mettle as a dramatic actress had already been proven before many times, and her turn here as Shel was no different. Her singing scenes were also a pleasant surprise. At one critical point, Shel declared what she wanted from Deo, and stood by her tough decision. This act of empowerment may come across as unreasonable and may be difficult for some audiences to understand why Shel's demand was that important for her
Ancheta set up the intricacies of the inter-personal relationships very well at the start. Everyone was supportive and got along very well, at least most of the time. The main conflicts lay in Deo and Shel's past baggage, and the effects brought about how they procrastinated to close those open doors. The only real villain in the story was Zach, a crass, ill-mannered, finger-snapping nepo-baby, played with annoying consistency by Benj Manalo.
However, like many melodramatic films in the past, the main problem of this film was borne out of a lapse in communication. It could have just taken Deo a few seconds to mention what happened at work that day so that Shel would know where he was coming from. Instead, it was only mentioned much later only as a desperate plea for understanding, when the relationship was already handling by a thread. It did not have to reach that point at all. 6/10.
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