addiction

For the past week and a half, my eyes and attention have been glued to the last of Sharon Cuneta's poor little rich girl roles, To Love Again, a Danny Zialcita scripted classic. Because it's from Danny Zialcita, the lines are crisp and witty. It's an addicting fairy tale of an arranged marriage. The protagonists are gorgeous and articulate. The support cast talks sense and sound intelligent.

I always like Sharon's early films, those done before her 18th birthday and her arrays of rags to riches tales of a wannabe singing superstar. They made me relax, enabled me to forget my poverty-stricken milieu. But they also provided a vista to the conflicting world of the very wealthy. Oh yes, the rich have problems and it's not their next meal.

In To Love Again, Sharon had Miguel Rodriguez as leading man. I remember the film was not as well-promoted as with her previous motion pictures. I might have been wrong, it was 31 years ago and at nine, more concerned with finishing up my vacation in my dad's hometown. I didn't see this movie in the cinema and only discovered its magic many years later. Maybe, with a far more vigorous packaging ( like Viva did with Sharon's career), Miguel could have given Richard Gomez some solid competition. But stuff happens. Richard is now into father roles. Do superstars eventually play support? Hopefully, not Nora, Vilma, Sharon.