Metro Manila (2013)
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 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. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Sean Ellis
Written By: Sean Ellis, Frank E. Flowers
Starring: John Arcilla, Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega
Country: Philippines, UK
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Metro Manila belongs to 5 collections
1. Cats (collaborative: moderated by Svengali - 2 stars)
2. British director (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
3. Crime (collaborative: moderated by ForrestQ)
4. Submissions to the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (collaborative: moderated by balseiros)
5. Sundance 2013 - World Cinema Dramatic Competition (public: chemical404)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Mar 16, 2019 |  |
sopachuco13 | 60 17th |
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I can see how Metro Manila wanted to be a movie like The Raid except with more heart. It did have more drama going on and less action but the story was straight as an arrow. The acting was good. The scenes of Manila were interesting and they show Manila truthfully - the good and the bad. I felt like the movie could have given me more. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
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| Sep 25, 2018 |  |
backwardsuit | 64 31st |
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A dramatically clunky depiction of poverty that turns into an equally generic crime thriller. It has a slick & competent style that makes excellent use of the locations but the actual storytelling seems to tortuously follow the conventions & shortcuts of some kind of bland western idea of "world cinema." The cliched heist ending didn't make any sense in this story, or at least in the story that I was engaged by. The fantastic underlaying grit & realism get slowly eroded by needless contrivances.
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| Dec 29, 2015 |  |
Cinema_Asia | 75 71st |
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It's a stunningly realistic portrayal of Manila and its desperate poverty, crime, and grit. The cinematography and city scapes are very well portrayed. The downside is that the dialogue is apparently not very well acted in tagalog by a few of the actors. You could chalk this up as a foreign director catering to a mostly a foreign audience. However, when directing a film in another language a director should still be aware of this. A compelling film but not as good as it should have been.
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| May 30, 2015 |  |
WWallce4prez | 68 41st |
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Is it a crime thriller or is it a narrative of poverty in the Philippines? While the two don't have to be mutually exclusive, the particular execution of both is oddly combined. It is beautifully shot, however.
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| Oct 11, 2013 |  |
filmfreak88 | 60 40th |
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It's beautifully shot but the film is not immune to poverty cliches and phony dialogue that don't quite match the very realistic squalor at display. The problematic script may be less obvious to those who don't speak the native language so us locals may be more critical. It does get infinitely better when it shifts gears to become a consistently compelling, atmospheric crime thriller in the second half.
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| Sep 16, 2013 |  |
frederic_g54 | 7 57th |
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From the claustrophobic confines of an armoured truck to the seedy underbelly of its bustling Filipino capital, Ellis' paints his compelling crime drama with a permanent sense of danger. While the characters' struggles and dreams provide the film with thematic resonance, it reaches too high at some points -- such as a final part that borders on implausibility -- making for an engaging if slightly contrived thriller.
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| Average Percentile 59.71% from 145 Ratings |  |