Mga Pusang Gala (Stray Cats)

[Blongkoy]

---

Be moved. Be hopeful. Watch the "Mga Pusang Gala" by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil.

If we have to look back to this evening's sneak preview of "Mga Pusang Gala", we can safely assume that Philippine cinema is not yet as dead as we think it to be. Shot by Alma dela Pena using Panasonic's AG DVX 100 A 24P, "Mga Pusang Gala" breathes new life into an otherwise moribund cinema. The acting alone of Ricky Davao (Bitoy) and Irma Adlawan (Martha) is so almost real that these two thespians will be hard to contend with in the next awards season. Add to this the meditative language of screenwriters Jun Lana and Rody Vera and the film sure affords us an emphatic experience we did not have since Lino Borcka's "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang."

"Mga Pusang Gala" is about the friendship shared by gay Bitoy and the liberated woman Martha. It is a film adaptation of the Palanca-winning stageplay "Mga Estranghero at ang Gabi", also by Jun Lana.

It will open at SM Cinema on August 17.

[Obese Bo Ricardo]

the film sure affords us an emphatic experience we did not have since Lino Borcka's "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang."

Out of curiousity, is this "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang" also a gay film?

Don't worry I'm no homophobe but was just asking. Thanks.

[Blongkoy]

the film sure affords us an emphatic experience we did not have since Lino Borcka's "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang."

Out of curiousity, is this "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang" also a gay film?

Don't worry I'm no homophobe but was just asking. Thanks.

My referrence to "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang" has nothing to do with gay subjects. The emphaty was raised only in referrence to the thesis of Sonia Sontag that: "the opium of the movies is our enabling to identify ourselves in the story and there is nothing more unpleasant in this situation than for producers and directors to supply the narcotic." "Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang" has broken this Sontag threshold.

Oh, by the way, "Mga Pusang Gala" is not a gay movie, as you imply. Ms. Ellen Ongkeko-Martin's milestone film is about friendship and loneliness. It might have a gay character ably portrayed by Ricky Davao (he has a torrid kissing scene with another male character) but this character did not make-up the whole movie.

You, too, don't worry, please. I am not gay although there are gays in my close circle of friends.

[Blongkoy]

If the MTCRB will not change its mind, "Mga Pusang Gala" will be finally on beginning tomorrow, Aug. 17, at SM Cinema here in Cebu.

"Mga Pusang Gala" by Ellen Ongkeko-Martin is a very thoughtful indie movie about friendship and loneliness. It is shot by Alma dela Pena using AG DVX100A 24P in the ways Caleb Deschanel or Haskel Wexler would with their 35mm Panavision.

My only sorry beef about this movie is that dela Pena failed to use to the maximum the portability and almost invisibility of the digital camera DVX100A. She did not quite liberate "Mga Pusang Gala" from the tight confines of the stage, for which it was originally written as "Mga Estranghero at ang Gabi" by Jun Lana.

But acting of the entire cast was almost real and the direction by Ongkeko-Martin was both charming and frank. Portraying the gay Bitoy, Ricky Davao had a torrid kissing and bathroom sodomy scene with another male character; and Irma Adlawan, from Cebu, was always in her consistent energy (the so-called "breaking a leg" in the parlance of the upper-lip British theater patrons.

Go watch "Mga Pusang Gala" before some myopic stalwarts of MTCRB will have it pulled out from exhibition for some re-editing mish-mash.

[MrBiddle]

My only sorry beef about this movie is that dela Pena failed to use to the maximum the portability and almost invisibility of the digital camera DVX100A. She did not quite liberate "Mga Pusang Gala" from the tight confines of the stage, for which it was originally written as "Mga Estranghero at ang Gabi" by Jun Lana.

Must be because the DV will be a dead give away if she was more liberal with the DVX100Advanced... was she not "shooting long" from a distance (as it is recommended when shooting DV) ? Unless these things I mentioned are irrelevant because there was no conscious part of this.

[Blongkoy]

Must be because the DV will be a dead give away if she was more liberal with the DVX100Advanced... was she not "shooting long" from a distance (as it is recommended when shooting DV) ? Unless these things I mentioned are irrelevant because there was no conscious part of this.

What I meant here MrBiddle is that --- in the ways that I did use the old reliable Sony VX1000 --- I would have wanted that AG DVX camera to travel to more meaningful places of thoughtful romances, rather than use it to shoot two people talking inside a room. But I guessed it had something to do with the so-called "indie budget".

[vanceloma]

wala ko kita ani, kay nag Guild Vs guild man gud mi.

Pero I hear it's nice.

DID YOU KNOW?
na ang musical scorer aning film na ni kay si Jerrold Tarog?

If you guys watched the independent Cebuano short film "The haunted", siya ana.

and siya pud atong mga Ragnarok na TV ads na scorer.

there was a time, for one year, 75% sa commercials, siya ang ga score.

Grabe siya noh?

Now, his film, Making Group *** is in exhibition sa Cinemanila.

[Blongkoy]

The certificate for public exhibition of "Mga Pusang Gala" has not been made available to the producing Erasto Productions. Until this all-powerful piece of paper is posted in the theaters, this milestone film by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil is not going to be seen by the wider public.

This is scary for this signals the eventual death of Philippine Cinema. Right now, with the dying if not dead Philippine Cinema, it is the indies who are giving it a glimmer of hope. But, with some powerful moralists --- they who dictate on our preferred way of life --- threading the thin line between the indie thinking and its viewers, that Cinema is ultimately going to cease existing. And with that, our spirit to articulate our joys and pains.

[MrBiddle]

I saw some excerpts the SM Cinema karon. Clearly, MiniDV can't confound us with it's look like HD can....

by the way um, I don't find hysterics very appealing. Should I take drama class? and did saying that make me have very "narrow horizons"?

I hope I dont have an arrogant tone though I don't even own the DVX100Advanced. ;b

[vanceloma]

Hala pag HD gud!