Filipiñana

Rafael Manuel’s extraordinary debut is a razor-sharp satire of wealth and exploitation in the Philippines, every shot perfectly manicured as the fairways in the elite country club where it’s set.

Isabel, a 17-year-old from the rural north, gets a new job pampering powerful men, but soon uncovers the ugly truths behind the veneer of luxury as she encounters the patriarchal director of the club and uncovers her country’s history of violence.

This is a decent new entry in the documenting-gross-inequality subgenre. I very much liked the quote from the director about golf courses being a silent violence committed against a land.

There are parts of this that are lovely. It has an episodic, Greek epic feel about it — we encounter different characters going about their lives, absurd little vignettes of life amongst the servants of the country club.

Unfortunately, it’s incredibly slow and the dramatic tension only really ramps up at the very end of the film. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I felt it pulled its punches rather: it had the chance to explode from its reserved, mannered start into something quite cutting but never quite does. Still a very enjoyable watch.

Oh, but the pine trees are not happy.