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Bituing Walang Ningning
English Translation: Star without a Sparkle
Additional Language: English
Year of Release: 1985
Director: Emmanuel H. Borlaza
Screenwriter: Orlando Nadres
From a story by Nerissa Cabral
Producer: Viva Films
Cast: Sharon Cuneta, Christopher de Leon, Cherie Gil, Jay Ilagay, Tommy Abuel, Joel Torre, Chanda Romero, Lorli Villanueva, Vicky Suba, Lito Pastrana, Timothy Diwa
Dorina Pineda is so obsessed with famous singer Lavinia Arguelles that she spends her spare time and money to attend her live appearances, and sneaks out extra garlands of sampaguita (jasmine) from the handicraft shop where she works, to offer them to her idol. She also sings at casual or small-time venues, in order to better emulate Lavinia, who pretends to appreciate Dorina’s fanaticism despite finding her repulsive because of her poverty. When Lavinia, in a fit of pique, refuses to fulfill her commitment to a producer’s programs, Dorina volunteers to take her place, and Lavinia’s ex-boyfriend is pleasantly surprised by Dorina’s talent and drawn to her kindness. All of which increases Lavinia’s ire toward her still-worshipful follower.
Bituing Walang Ningning has proved to be crucial to the two most significant Philippine star-studies articles not focused on Nora Aunor: “Sharon’s Noranian Turn” (2009) by Bliss Cua Lim and “Dulsita” (2015) by Jerrick Josue David. Its historical circumstances provide a useful context: Emmanuel H. Borlaza developed his audience-friendly approaches during the wholesome teen-idol musicals meant to provide a moral counterweight to the soft-core bomba films of the late 1960s and early ’70s; he also (more than once) assisted in the revival of Cebuano-language cinema by introducing smart reworkings of commercial genres. Viva Films, for its part, intended to foster conservative values in film material and production during the Marcos era, with Sharon Cuneta as its signature performer. This assumption served to challenge Filipino filmmakers, who were by then already used to devising ways to bypass or subvert the many restrictions that government authorities imposed on the country’s most popular mass medium. Not surprisingly, several Viva productions have proved worthier of long-term appreciation than observers initially thought. As the last of a series of Hollywood-style movie queens to stake her claim on pop-culture history, Cuneta took note of the lessons of her predecessors (hence her “Noranian” turn) and has been shaping her life according to her perception of what history expects from her: feminist responsibility then, democratic politics today, always with a well-known affection for her followers. Not only is she the only movie queen whose fan vehicle (where she ironically plays a starstruck devotee) deserves to be honored, even before she upgraded to mature roles; she has also persisted in finding her way, high-profile as ever, even with the rambunctiously vexatious arrival of new media and new politics in the new millennium. Among the many other pleasures the film bestows are its evergreen title song and the line uttered by exasperated but self-amused drama queens since then: “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying-hard copycat,” preferably with a glass of well-aimed cold water in hand.
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