Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di

     

Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di (also billed parenthetically as Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di (I Love You)) is a 2006 Filipino film starring Filipino actors Angel Locsin as Charity and Richard Gutierrez as Nathan. Nathan is a veterinarian with playboy tendencies who falls in love with Charity, a full blood Chinese who always follows tradition. In order to woo not only Charity but also her family, Nathan tries to follow and adapt Chinese culture, but with hilarious results.

Unlike its earlier predecessors and the following installment Mano Po 6: A Mother's Love, Mano Po 5 is rather more of a romantic comedy-drama than the purely drama genre.

The film stars Lorna Tolentino, Angel Locsin and Richard Gutierrez, which already starred together in Mano Po 2: My Home. Asia's Superstar and Star In A Million finalist Christian Bautista also appeared in his first film at the height of his successful musical career. 

 

Plot Summary

A culinary romance set in Binondo, where Chinese traditions are still very much observed, Mano Po 5: Gua Ay Di is a touching story of how a young Chinese woman fights for the man she loves. She is doomed by strict family traditions to only wed someone of pure Chinese descent. But Charity finds love where she was not supposed to find it... at least according to her cold-hearted mother. Despite being met with resistance by her traditional Chinese family, most especially her mother, Charity continues her relationship with Nathan. Nathan, on the other hand, proves himself and his love to her by making an effort to learn about her background, culture and language resulting into various mishaps, sometimes comical and other times just plain disastrous. Charity finds solace in the kitchen, her cooking interwoven with the story of her ill-fated romance. Will true love prevail in the end? And will she be able to come up with the perfect recipe for love? Written by MMFF

 

Trivia 

The movie was initially headline as Dennis Trillo - Angel Locsin movie. However, Dennis was "fired" from the project and was replaced by 'Richard Gutierrez (I)' (bv).   

Christian Bautista was personally selected by Dennis Trillo to form the triumvirates. When Dennis was fired, Christian remained in the movie.   

Ai-Ai de las Alas was earlier tapped to be in the movie.

Mother Lily Y. Monteverde wanted 'Joel Lamangan' (qc) to direct this movie since he made three movie in the franchise. But since the director was then still doing another Metro Manila Filmfest entry, Zsa Zsa Zaturnah (2006), this movie was given to Jun Lana. When the cast was overhauled in the last week of September, Monteverde dropped Lana and tapped Lamangan to do the movie. Lamagan accepted the offer since he already finished the other project.   

The box-office failure of Regal Films' Eternity forced producer Lily Y. Monteverde to "fire" Dennis Trillo from the movie. The producer reasoned that it was unwise to have the team-up of Angel Locsin and Dennis Trillo twice in a row despite the success of their previous pairing, Txt. Monteverde cited that the first pairing of Dingdong Dantes and Iza Calzado in Moments of Love, but the immediate follow-up in Eternity was a disaster.

The role of Yolanda was originally intended for Dina Bonnevie who was eased out from the Mano po 2: My home by Lorna Tolentino. Dina shot for a day for this movie but was sidelined by illness. As Dina could not continue doing the movie, Lorna was tapped to replace her as Yolanda.

Sam Concepcion supposedly played as the young Christian Bautista. But her scene were deleted, and an uncredited unidentified young actor replaced him. Sam's name, however, appeared on the poster and he even joined in the promotion. 

Cast

Richard Gutierrez as Nathan

Angel Locsin as Charity

Christian Bautista as Timothy/Felix Yan

Lorna Tolentino as Yolanda

Tirso Cruz III as Williamson

Ketchup Eusebio as Emerson

Michelle Madrigal

Jacklyn Jose

AJ Dee as Anderson

Joyce So

Boots Anson-Roa

Aria Clemente as Young Charity




Soundtrack 

"My heart has a mind of its own"
Performed by Christian Bautista

 In early 2007, Locsin also reunited with Richard Gutierrez in The Promise where their roles were considered more mature than their last film. This was her last film with GMA Films before she signed a contract with Star Cinema.

Locsin had also produced her own film entitled Angels, which was shown in theaters on April 12, 2007.