Metro Manila (2013) FotW #328

[Cocoa]

Film of the Week #328: Metro Manila (2013)



Summary:
Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines. But the sweltering capital's bustling intensity quickly overwhelms them, and they fall prey to the rampant manipulations of its hardened locals. Oscar Ramirez catches a lucky break when he's offered steady work for an armored truck company and gregarious senior officer Ong takes him under his wing. Soon, though, the reality of his work's mortality rate and the murky motives of his new partner force Oscar to confront the perils he faces in his new job and life. The movie portrays how far a man can go for his family.

#398 on 500<400, with 304 checks.
Nominated by 72aicm, joachimt, and xianjiro.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#398(NEW) Metro Manila (2013)

Directed by: Sean Ellis
(288.72 Pts, 8 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–1–2
History: 398←704←658←1361←1996←NA←NA

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ICheckMovies: 297 Checks , 32 Favourites , 0 Official lists

List of Voters:

Angel Glez (9)
filmbantha (12)
Eve-Lang-El-Coup (95)
amechsner (103)
Gordon_Gekko (104)
Gorro (108)
toromash (142)
sol (330)

This movie fits the current Doubling the Canon Nominations Challenge.



Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.

[kongs_speech]

I hate to keep asking, but as always, if someone could point me in the right direction to see this film, that would be super.

[mathiasa]

Works very good as a thriller. The director has been criticized for not understanding Phillipine society, which really could be the
csse, but I know nothing about this subject matter. Though there were a lot of clichés. Do the farmers still not work with futures? That‘s incredible stupid if you don‘t have a bankroll.

Spoiler

In
the movies gets too clever with its twists

, making the movie in even more childish. But after the debacle in the world cup, where Jagdszenen is winning, it seems childish movies are appreciated on this movie forum. Makes be a bit sad, but it has to be respected.
The movie manages to keep you on the edge of the seat for the most time. Could have been a masterpiece if the had a writer who was more familiar with the topics to be depict. Feeling nice today, I’ll give it a whooping 7.0/10

[kongs_speech]

Apologies for being late in the week to check it out, but I think this is a fucking masterpiece. I just watched it and I'm stunned. The performances are so good, the cinematography is beautiful, and the ending is powerful and places everything in a different context.

Spoiler

It's such a bleak film, so then to have the bittersweet, optimistic ending moved me a great deal.

I really didn't know what to expect from Metro Manila, but I certainly didn't foresee something brilliant.

[joachimt]

I loved it as well. The combination of drama and crime-thriller is well done. It never feels forced. When they got to the city, I expected a full drama in which there would only be hardship, living in the slums, hunger, death, etc... But

Spoiler

I was surprised that things seemed to get better with the family pretty soon. At first this felt a bit odd. Most of the time you won't get a chance so soon in such a country, I guess. But hope seemed to be false and good things have a different side as well.

Good plot with a strong ending. 8/10

[xianjiro]

Still running a bit behind and only just finished watching. Overall, thought it was pretty well-made with fine acting. However, the writing was weak and felt rather predictable. What can I say, I started to smell a set-up fairly early on: just didn't know the details until they played out. While I flipped just into 8/10, it's not with a fair amount of trepidation, mostly because the story just felt forced and not entirely believable. However, in terms of how it was made, it's a great film and certainly one that can keep a viewer's interest, certainly as well as many much slicker and less compelling films from places ending ...wood. Didn't feel it was a waste and I did want to see how it would play out, but just found (all but the final moments of) the third act a let down after the first two.

[blocho]

I agree with others that there were some weaknesses in the writing, but overall I thought it was excellent. Definitely a contender for my 500<400 list.