Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines.
Brit filmmaker Sean Ellis does terrific work balancing the disparate elements of his crime-laced drama. Recommended.
A moving morality tale set in a world rarely seen in western cinema, Metro Manila is an underdog drama that feels as authentic as it is original.
You could complain that the characters are a little thin(perhaps owing to the language barrier), but it's a resourceful, distinctive film that builds to a satisfying crescendo.
The influence of Ken Loach makes way for the dynamics of a Quentin Tarantino-style heist. The result is an expertly crafted heartbreaker that cuts to the core of desperate lives.
Metro Manila is exactly the kind of taut genre-film that British cinema seems to have abandoned in favour of dull heritage pictures, but Ellis proves that the slow-burning thriller can still work as both an entertainment and as a penetrating social critique.
A social realist spin on the heist movie with engrossing results.
The elements may be familiar, but there's a tenderness in the depiction of the central family which was notably lacking from Ellis's earlier work, and the nuts and bolts of the heist narrative are handled with slow-burn dexterity.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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