Watch this: Filipiñana
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Aisha Harris and guests Badatri D. Chaudhry and Monica Castillo discuss 'Filipiñana,' a visually stunning and emotionally powerful debut fil
Key takeaways
- The film uses lush cinematography and surreal visuals to contrast beauty with underlying oppression, evoking comparisons to Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho.
Main topics
- Colonialism and wealth disparity in the Philippines
Notable quotes
"It's such a beautiful, lush film... your eyes are soothed when you watch this film, but your mind, heart and brain are racing." – Badatri D. Chaudhry
Conclusion
Filipiñana stands out as a powerful, visually arresting film that transcends typical Hollywood
Transcript preview
Speaker 5 (0:00) History is intriguing, but unlike the present, it can feel far off. On NPR's ThruLine, we bring it back to life and put you in the middle of it. Go inside the stories from then that shape the world we live in now. Find NPR's ThruLine wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (0:23) I feel like golf courses are one of the most egregious examples. Speaker 3 (0:27) Wasteful things, yes. Absolutely. Of waste, Speaker 8 (0:30) of waste. So much land that could be used for something else, but instead they're using all the water. I feel like they precursor data centers. Like they are, like, why are they here? Speaker 1 (0:44) There's a great new movie out that's a different kind of eat the rich narrative, probably because it's not churned out by Hollywood. It's about the inner workings of a country club in the Philippines, and it's both beautiful to look at and an emotional gut punch. Kind of like if Wes Anderson made an explicitly anti-colonialist satire. I'm Aisha Harris, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Philadelphia Inquirer, arts and entertainment editor and film critic, Badatri D. Chaudhry. Hey, Badatri. Speaker 3 (1:12) Hi, very happy to be here. Speaker 1 (1:13) Happy to have you. And also with us is Monica Castillo, film critic for the AV Club. Welcome back, Monica. So Speaker 2 (1:20) glad to be back. Speaker 1 (1:21) Yeah, it's great to have you both. So in Filipiniana, a country club outside of Manila caters to wealthy international clientele. 17-year-old Isabel is a new employee working as a tea girl that's managing the golf balls for members as they practice their swings. And she's played by Joribel Agoto. And the more she absorbs, the more sinister the club begins to seem. Now, Fila Pena is the feature debut of Rafael Manuel, and it's in theaters now. But, Atri, I'm going to start with you. What do we make of this film? Speaker 3 (1:50) I think you said this is the film to look out for, and I just wanted to stop at look, because it's such a beautiful, lush film. Like, I've never been to Manila. It's set right outside of Manila, and it's just, of course, To your point, like, you know, this is a little bubble for rich people. And we see the rest of the country is suffering from a shortage of water. But inside the golf club, everything is fine. And oh my God, what does fine mean? It's just like your eyes are soothed when you watch this film, but your mind, heart and brain are racing because it's not easy to digest the things that you're seeing on screen. Speaker 1 (2:33) I'm Speaker 3 (2:33) glad you said Wes Anderson, but also like a little bit of Bong Joon-ho because like Speaker 1 (2:37) very Speaker 3 (2:38) weird things are happening on screen and no one seems to mind. Everyone has a straight face. So yeah, those are my initial reactions. I really liked the film. It was a beautiful film to look at. Speaker 1 (2:50) Yeah, yeah. Monica, how are we feeling about this? Speaker 2 (2:53) I completely agree. I mean, it was so stunning to watch at Sundance because it's this beautiful, lush film, very green when it's the middle of January. Not like Park City at all. Not quite. But in looking at these beautiful sort of like almost postcard imagery with this really... fascinating pastel uniforms. And it almost looks palatial, this golf club resort area. And you fall in love with how this feels and how relaxing it is. But then you start to think about what you're actually watching. And there's these very subtle, quiet moments that kind of poke at the absurdity of these fake areas, of these make-believe escapist destinations. Because While we may see the first impression of like, wow, what a welcoming resort, we also see the work it takes to create that illusion. And it sort of starts poking at this from different directions. And it's so subtle, but it also uses a lot of surrealist imagery. You know, it's almost hypnotic, some of the things that like the way that Rafael Manuel. positions things or like uses his camera to create that still life. That's why we feel a little bit of that Wes Anderson touch. It almost feels like a dollhouse, but it is like pointing out how absurd this all manicured manufactured reality really is. So it's so artful. It's really haunted me since I've seen it. Speaker 1 (4:25) Yeah. I mean, it seems worth calling out Speaker 4 (4:27) the DP here, the cinematographer here, who is Xenia Patricia. Oh, Speaker 1 (4:31) yes. Speaker 4 (4:32) They are basically composing these beautiful, gorgeous shots where sometimes you're just looking at something for a very long time and maybe nothing is moving or maybe like. One person or figure is moving from way in the distance and it takes a little while. This is a, it's Speaker 3 (4:48) a Speaker 4 (4:48) slow burn type of movie. Oh Speaker 3 (4:50) yeah. Speaker 4 (4:50) You soak it in. Speaker 3 (4:50) Yeah. And then for a film where so much is happening, there's violence, there's colonial history, there is like just bad rich people behavior. It's so slow, like the way the camera just rests and is not in a hurry to go anywhere, tell you something quickly. I really love that aspect. Speaker 2 (5:10) Yeah. And it's both subtle and overt in some of that pointing out both the way that, you know, people misbehave in these resort areas because they think maybe the rules don't apply to them or they lose that sort of decorum that they would be polite to everyday strangers, but somehow they lose their manners around people who work there. I'm thinking