Maricel Soriano potters around with harry

There is a good movie showing in your local movie theaters this week. Try and find time to see it.

Calling Fr. Robert Reyes, now is a good time to enjoin your parishioners to watch a good Filipino movie. Instead of calling attention to movies you don’t want them to see, what about promoting one which I am sure you will find no objections to.

I went to the premiere of Star Cinema’s Mila, a movie directed by Joel Lamangan. I was invited by good friends and fellow talent managers Ethel Ramos and Dolor Guevarra. Martin Nievera was there to sing a few songs to entertain the large crowd waiting to get into the two theaters at Rockwell’s Power Plant Mall.

The wait was made unbearable by a chattering Pia Guanio who unfortunately was not an appropriate host for the evening. Her co-host Ryan Agoncillo could hardly get a word in. The stars that she constantly referred to as artistas, in her mix of Tagalog and English, meant to be charming, but the program left us wishing the movie would start soon.

Mila is a film inspired by the true story of teacher Anita Pamintuan. Maricel Soriano portrays Mila in this movie and she does a good job. I believe the bigger the star, the harder it is for her to depict the role of an ordinary person. Not so with Maricel. With her credible performance, she made it easy for the audience to forget the star and believe in the character she is portraying.

Maricel is truly an artist, because she "becomes" Mila Cabangon, a woman who loves teaching. Mila is a devoted teacher who gets swallowed by the system, who loses her school, but still finds a way teach – the street urchins. It is a sad but inspiring story.

I had a chance to sit and chat with Maricel after the movie and took the opportunity to ask her to name some of her favorite books:

1. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone; Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets; Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban; Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by J.K.Rowling – People were telling me that this book should be banned, so of course that made me curious. After reading the first book, I thought to myself: There’s nothing bad here. What are they talking about? The story is all heart. It’s all about a little boy whose father is a wizard and his mother is a witch. They are from a different dimension but it is still about love. Love for family, love for friends. It’s so universal. Having found nothing wrong with the first book – and because I enjoyed it so much – I went on to read all the other books.

2. Embraced By The Light by Betty J. Eadie, Curtis A. Taylor and Melvin Morse – After reading the book, it was like, I was so excited to die...and meet Him. It was like, the only time you can be truly happy is to be with Him. The only time you can truly feel joy is when you’re with God – this was reinforced after reading this book.

3. Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden – I am still in the third chapter and I am enjoying it so far. I hear Madonna is doing the movie.

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Book of the Week: Black Hearts by Arlene Chai – I thought the way she brought the characters to life was truly ingenious. Available in Dymocks at Robinsons Place, Ermita, National Book Stores and Powerbooks.

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Magazines of the Week: Elle Decor and Metropolitan Home. For subscriptions you can call Emerald Headway at 647-03-94.

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Your comments and suggestions are always welcome at readclub@aol.com...