You're probably thinking of some other woman filmmaker, with no feeling for eroticism or sensuality in any of her films.
Agree. I also dislike that
other filmmaker especially her more recent works. They are overblown melodramas. Technically they’re good (because the films are well funded by big producers) but that’s about it.
My first introduction to her movie was her comeback film,
Ika-11 utos: Mahalin Mo, Asawa Mo. Prior to that I’ve heard/read a lot about her and that she’s supposed to be really good feminist director (
Brutal was always mentioned in the articles). I was so devastated after watching that movie. It was like the funniest horror movie that I’ve ever seen. Still I made a mistake of watching her films mostly because the trailers were good and there were a lot of buzz about them (
Muro-ami and Jose Rizal) but more often than not I always went home disappointed. Her movies sucked and to make matter worse they were terribly long and overlong. A total waste of time!
Her older movies fare a lot better.
Moral for example is a great film. One of the best Filipino films that I’ve seen: Funny, Bernal-eque.
I haven’t seen her
Karnal and Brutal so I can’t comment on them. Another two movies of her that I liked are
May Nagmamahal sa Iyo and Sa Pusod ng Dagat (again very derivative of Bernal’s Nunal sa Tubig). Her
Ipaglaban mo: The Movie is at least watchable.
But I’ve stupidly bought a VCD copy of her
Alyas Baby Tsina. I almost burned it after watching it. It’s one of those movies that wouldn’t have been great but was completely ruined in the end. It’s a
Bulaklak Sa City Jail wannabe.
I actually have
Noon at Ngayon... Pagsasamang Kayganda (Moral 2?) on DVD for more than two years now and I still haven’t made myself to finish watching it.