Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Yvonne Jodi
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
orfredericks
I liked the parts of the film that show the raw imagery and graphic content of the evil and good of humans throughout the whole world. Moreover, like the scene of the woman just looking down at her phone and a second later she is being kidnapped within 50 feet away of the Ramirez family and disappearing within seconds. The definite elements of the film that indicate that the film is not American is that the film is filmed with a more realistic and unedited camera with a raw kind of vivid imagery in which HD is not needed and it makes you feel emotionally and intact in the film, as if you were there first hand experiencing it and walking throughout the whole movie with the characters themselves. Another indicator of it not being an American film is that there was n o flashiness or capitalistic kind of aspect to the film, no flashy cars, no mansions, no perfectly cut grass etc. The only part of the film that I did not understand was the clocking out of the armored truck drivers for each other and if there were any precautions for them potentially getting in trouble with their boss "laughing Buddha". What elements in the film indicate that the film is not American? The Global perspective elements that i saw in this film, was that status and social class still played a big factor and role in a urban city like Metro Manila. Ong, Oscar's partner, says to Oscar that if the boss were to know that Oscar is living in the slums, he would be fired immediately. If I were to put myself into Mai's shoes i would have not taken my children to a bar or club, because the dangers of kidnapping and or human trafficking of her children would have been very high in an Urban city and she did not have an eye on them for any time. Consequently, I would not change the ending at all to be honest because i think it is a perfect fit for the movie.I believe that the USA could be relevant to the culture that Sean Ellis portrays Metro manila because since the the birth of America everyone comes to America for the American dream and some people don't find work in America and become unemployed or in a financial disaster in which leads to poverty. Hence, in Metro Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family give up living in the Banaue Province because of the possibility of starvation and poverty and move to Metro manila in order to escape that and find a new opportunity with their new hopes, but just like many immigrants who came to America with hope of escaping famine, wars, and or poverty, the Ramirez family find themselves living in poverty anyways and housing in the slums. The role of women in this film is portrayed in a sexual and demeaning kind of way in which you see in the the opening scene of the entrance of Metro Manila city with a woman on a billboard that is about half the size of a skyscraper, half nude. This shows that the value of women is second hand to men and they are not treated with the amount of respect that a man of her equal would be treated. They are also not held to the code of conduct such as men, for example, the bar manager "Charlie", tells Mai (Oscar Ramirez's wife) that she is not earning enough money in the bar and that her nine year old daughter will have to start working too. There was no respect or humane value shown in Charlie's morale.
Elinor
Overall I thought this was an excellent film. Oscar the protagonist in the film and his family flee the Northern part of the Philippines, and venture out to Metro Manila with no food, money, or any place to stay. They have troubles adapting to their new life, but try to find ways to earn some money in Manila, by finding occupations that they wouldn't do, if they had the choice. Oscar's wife who has two children finds a job at a club, but has a hard time doing something that she is against, as for Oscar who had a hard time finding a job and a place to live with his family, found a job as a security officer for Manila Armored Couriers, and bonded with Ong one of senior officers that he worked with. At first Ong was nice to Oscar lending him an apartment to stay in, but soon started to threaten Oscar. Oscar started getting more involved with Ong, and the mess that he started, which was staging a robbery, and taking a security box with him,and told Oscar that he needed a copy of the key. The day that Ong and Oscar went to stage the robbery, Ong tries to surrender to box, but fails and gets killed. At the end when Oscar finally retrieves the key that opens the security box, he gets caught on camera, and unfortunately dies at the end of the film. The ending of the film resembled to some American films, because even though Oscar died, his wife was able to get hold of the money in the box, and move on with her children. It shows that to a bad ending, there can always be happy endings as well. My favorite character in the film was Oscar's wife, because she was a very determined and brave woman. She was always there for Oscar and her kids, and tried to do her best, in order to help her family in some way, rather than have Oscar do it all himself. After seeing this film I think that it earns a 5/5 stars.
Marc Jose Suter
great mirroring of the social problems in the Philippine's,a dark ride into a heavy drama ,corruption criminality poverty all is in the cake,and i don't want spoil anything,just watch this great movie and get drowned into the mind games and suffering of the Philippine's escpialy in manila, Sean Ellis made a great job at directing,great cinematography shots and the great soundtrack....the actors been amazing, the cast is truly well chosen,Jake macapagal did play very on point,as well as althea vega,john arcilla is the type of filipino u don't want encounter, hes the perfect villain in this gem and plays it out the ryt way... give this movie a chance...and hey manila is a rough place...
brchthethird
METRO MANILA is as much a heartbreaking drama of trying to make it in the big city as it is a crime thriller, probably even more so. Sean Ellis, who directed, wrote, produced and did the cinematography has crafted an excellent story that, while a little too familiar in some respects, is still powerfully acted and beautifully shot. In fact, the visual authenticity is what gripped me the most. Having been to the Philippines a couple of times, I felt like these were locations that I had seen before (even though I hadn't been to the ones specifically used for the film). There are dozens of shots capturing all of the various aspects of life in Manila, from the squalor of the slums to the bright lights of the Metro area. Everything is shown, and nothing is held back. The cinematographic choices also lend a degree of realism to the drama of the story.As far as acting is concerned, everyone did a good job as far as I could tell, although some line readings did seem to be a little off. In particular, the actors who played Oscar Ramirez and Douglas Ong stood out. The story the film tells is quite a familiar one, although the execution and setting is what make it seem fresh. Basically, Oscar moves his family from the rice terraces of Banaue to Manila, in hopes that they will be able to make a better living. Oscar gets a job as an armored car driver, while his wife Mai takes a job at a hostess bar (similar to juice bars in South Korea). While there, both are confronted with the harsh realities of city life and are forced to make difficult choices for themselves. Seeing some of the things that they, Mai in particular, have to go through was painful to watch at times, but it helped in making these people easy to sympathize with. Generally, the story doesn't take too many surprising turns, but the way in which it ends was definitely emotionally satisfying.As far as the action is concerned, while the film seems to be billed as a crime thriller, this isn't entirely accurate. Yes, crime is a part of the overall narrative, but at its heart the film is a family drama. This might disappoint people going in hoping for a shoot-em-up, but this film is more thought-provoking than it is riveting in an action-film sense. Trying to escape poverty is one of the film's biggest themes, and the way in which this was portrayed is, in my opinion, what sets it apart from other movies like it. Overall, I thought that the film was well-made, well-acted, well-shot, etc., even if the story wasn't the most original. Fans of foreign and Filipino cinema should definitely check this out, and I would also recommend it to anyone willing to give it a chance.
