Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Executscan Expected more

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

chohara Review/Reaction:I loved Metro Manila. I thought it was an excellent story, but more importantly, I thought the way it was filmed and scripted was even greater. The flow of the film is very natural throughout and at no points did I think the production was poor. One of the moments in particular where you can see this is when Oscar goes out with his coworkers for the first time while his wife is dancing at a bar exposing herself for pay. The visuals in this moment become very clear, while any noise is silenced by the ominous music playing as it switches back and forth from Oscar to his wife. You can almost feel the characters pain of depravity from their situation in the moments watching that. That's powerful fiction right there, and that is why I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, from the beginning to the very end. Aside from what I thought was impeccable production, especially from an Indie team, the presentation of the situation that our characters are in is done in a superb display. All throughout the film, you can see the corruption going on in Manila, you can see the poverty, you can hear the noises of the city, you can see the desperation on all the characters faces when they learn they're being evicted or have to go hungry. All the little side occurrences in the movie are masterfully directed, in my opinion, and I believe that's why the film at large was a great movie.

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.

Leofwine_draca METRO MANILA is a fine movie indeed, a wonderful character study that explores real life on the grim and gritty streets of the Philippines. It tells an age-old story of corruption and wasted lives, and yet it's so very well made that you can dismiss the familiarity of the storyline and simply get caught up in the compelling narrative.The movie stars the excellent Jake Macapagal as a mild-mannered family man who moves to the city in order to provide for his wife and kid. Unfortunately, he soon discovers that the population of this urban metropolis isn't to be trusted, and he's led into a sinister plot through no fault of his own. METRO MANILA is a very slow film indeed in which little happens, and yet there's overriding suspense, a sense of futile inevitability, which makes it absolutely gripping.The production values of the movie are strong indeed, and the performances are naturalistic in the extreme. For a guy whose previous experience of Filipino cinema has been the '60s B-movies of Eddie Romero and his ilk, this film's a real eye-opener; a gutsy piece of film-making, grittily realistic and yet full of heart, a film that can stand against the best competition coming from its neighbouring countries.

marcvalenzuela This film titled 'Metro Manila' sure caught me by surprise upon hearing of how the Philippines is way different from that of the stateside. To speak briefly as a Filipino-American, I felt proud to see such a movie show the country where my family's roots originated. Not to mention how the city of Manila can be manipulative if you're not careful or not familiar at all to its foreign customs.Back to the movie, the plot of an impoverished man named Oscar Ramirez bringing his family away from their rural home and into the more modernized area of the Philippines is a big change for them. Despite being in a new surrounding, it isn't easy for Oscar to get around much since the people there can be rough and the area is not familiar much with him. It then changes when he finds a prosperous job, but is unaware that his workplace might not be all what it seems.British filmmaker Sean Ellis sure did an impressive job directing and revealing the Philippines in its imperfect, but purposeful glory. My mindset had me thinking it was a form of documentary, but that was not the case. About fifteen to twenty minutes into the movie, it slowly started to remind me of the 2008 film 'Slumdog Millionaire' in terms of an impoverished individual who tries to make something of himself and prove he's not worthless. Except in the latter, director Danny Boyle was exploring India that was based on a book about class barriers being broken by children of the slums. But in 'Metro Manila,' a married man with family is trying to build up from his derelict lifestyle, much like Slumdog's lead Jamal, but with purposes different from the latter. Overall, the movie felt moving, thrilling, and complex yet intriguing at the same time. I've visited the Philippines in my childhood more than once and one things for sure, among the many cousins and relatives I have that live there, we pretty much stick together like a big family. For Oscar willing to move ahead in life, even through the most dire of consequences, what matters to him the most above all is his family. I can relate to that and I recommend this movie not just for its culture or ethnic background, but such morals can exist anywhere in the world regardless of who you are or where you're from.