Mario vs. Mario 2

jojo de vera: you're absolutely right Noel... if you'll remember the Nora-Christopher episode in Bakit May Pag-Ibig Pa was very theatrical. the entire film was like a stage play. even in the Filipino version of Lord of the Flies, Alkitrang Dugo which was produced by Nora's own NV Productions had some theatrical moments.

 

jojo devera: ewan ko ba diyan kay Mario B. he was one of the original Manunuri nu'ng manalo si Ate Guy for Tatlong Walang Diyos tapos heto na naman ang mga birada niya. sabagay hindi naman 'yung performance ang binanggit niya kundi ang pagiging theatrical ng eksena sa simbahan kung saan ginupit ang buhok ni Ate Guy. i for one don't think that's the case. theater kasi ang background ni Mario O'Hara kaya sigur may tendency siya na maging theatrical ang execution ng eksena. (I don't know about Mario B. He was one of the original Critics when Ate Guy won for Three Years Without God, and here he is with his cheap shots. At least he didn't cite the performances, only the theatricality of the scenes at the church when Ate Guy's hair was cut. I for one don't think that's the case. Mario O'Hara's background is in theater so he has a tendency to execute his scenes theatrically.)

Mario comes not only from theater but also from radio; he may use theatrical compositions for certain images, but his is not a stagebound visual style--is even less stagebound, I would argue, than Brocka (who does not come from radio).

I would argue that his radio background helped free him from the limits of a theater-oriented filmmaker, much in the same way radio help free another filmmaker--I'm thinking of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (I asked Mario what he thought of that film, and he said "it's so radio!").

Anyone who has seen O'Hara's Mortal, or the fight scenes in Kastilyong Buhangin and Bagong Hari, or almost all of Mga Bilanggong Birhen or The Fatima Buen Story or a few of the sequences in Tatlong Taong (and I'm sure my list is very incomplete) would see that O'Hara goes beyond even Brocka in terms of editing and imagery, of visual storytelling--if anything, his equal would be Gerardo de Leon or Celso Ad. Castillo.