Metro Manila, 2013.
Directed by Sean Ellis.
Starring Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla, Mailes Canapi and Moises Magisa.
SYNOPSIS:
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.
Before going into Metro Manila, I’d heard that the film had been given some comparisons to 2012s The Raid, but personally I don’t think the two can be compared – as Metro Manila is a much better film with a lot more heart.
Telling the story of Oscar Ramirez and his family as they travel from their poverty-stricken rice farm in Philippines to Manila, Sean Ellis’s debut feature movie is a beautifully shot, well crafted and brilliantly written drama with a great score and an excellent script. It kept me gripped until the final moments of the film with twists and turns and a few shocks along the way.
While Metro Manila is a beautiful film to look at, the film thrives due to its superb performances mainly from Jake Macapagal and John Arcilla who strike up a very believable friendship. Althea Vega is also very good as the hard done by wife and mother, but aside from a few lines she isn’t really given a great deal to do. She is a key component of the story, but the main focus is Oscar and the lengths he will go to to protect his family.
The story does have some niggling issues and at times can be quite cliché – which often makes it easy to telegraph. You have all the classic traits on show like corrupt business men, a veteran who takes the rookie on so he can pay him back at a later date (complete with, “after all I’ve done for you”), the wife resorting to a form of prostitution to make ends meet, a crazy drug lord, the boss has a wacky nickname etc. But even with all these telegraphable plot points, the superb performances really carry the movie to the final credits.
And despite it being as old as the day is long, I really liked the relationship between rookie Oscar and the veteran Ong. The two actors play the parts so well but I would argue that more time could have been given to flesh it out. The main problem Metro Manila is that it takes too long to get to the main crux of the story which means that the last hour of the movie feels like it could have been stretched out over 90 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, it never feels badly paced, but I would have liked to have seen the relationship between the two blossom over a touch more time.
It sounds like I’m quite down on the film but I’m actually the opposite. Aside from a few problems, Metro Manilla is a great film which does everything almost perfectly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean Ellis isn’t called up to Hollywood ranks soon as he has a great eye of detail and get great performances from his actors.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published April 26, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
