City After Dark

Of the great directors of the era, I tend to underrate Ishmael for his conservative leanings. There is a sense of cheap morality that permeates in his work that bothers me in his lesser films, unlike his more grungier contemporaries. They view point tends to be quite well built and a world that neither here or there.

But with the guidance of the great Ricky Lee, this film how the poor of Manila lives their life with all the neon and all, this just finds it footing.

This is BERNAL's masterpiece. Himala is a great drama BUT Manila By Night is Bernal's unflinching vision of the dingy Marcos-stricken Manila. AND Plus points, because Mother Marcos hates it. Neon and all.

It probably has the fanciest cinematography of the era. I think this film got a lot of financing from the Experimental Cinema projects of the Marcos. Kudos to them for going against with the content of the film. It shows Manila as what I think it still is. A CITY of OPPORTUNITY and OPPURTUNITIST. Its bleak and unflinching AND this film never offered an easy out.

Every BODY IS QUEER in this film. Every BODY sells their body in one way or another. Such a great ensemble film.

Highly Recommended.

Observation * WHY WOULD they let ALMA MORENO wear clothes from someone who died WEARING THEM. Wouldn't that be still be evidence? Lol.

* Why is BERNARDO BERNARDO not included in the POSTER? He seems to be much more crucial in this film tbh. I think, he is the central figure of the last portion of the film.

Why would someone or some entity pay good money to restore this movie? It's horrible. It's made like a grind house movie from the 70's so, again, why bother to restore it?

It's very poorly made and at a running time of more than two and a half hours, you'll be craving sleep soon after you start watching it.

I tried very hard to get into it but really the movie can be distilled down to endless bath and shower scenes. Who cares?

Maybe this was titillating back in the day in Manilla, but it sure isn't today. And it wasn't in the US back then either.

I was thoroughly bore out of my mind. Don't bother.

City After Dark brilliantly intertwined different personalities living in the reality of poor living conditions. Orestes Ojeda is a playboy who flirts with Lorna Tolentino, a waitress; Alma Moreno, a nurse and Bernardo Bernardo, a gay shop owner. Bernardo, on the other hand, has a thing going with William Martinez, who in turn has a college girlfriend, Gina Alajar and a sauna attendant, the blind Rio Locsin. Locsin is the lover of drug pusher Cherie Gil, to whom William's gang gets their drug. Chariot Solis is William's mom who unknowingly supports her son's drug use.

Ishmael Bernal masterfully brought different colorful characters, giving them equal exposure, developing their stories and even adding some side stories like the restaurant owner, Maya Valdez and Rio's boyfriend who was cheated by his recruiter. Harsh realities all.

The only minus I could see here is that the dubbed voices are not their own (William, some of Cherie and some of Rio). Otherwise, it's still entertaining to watch and even 30 years after, it's still relevant and I should add, ahead of it's time.

Pretty disjointed film. This is more like a time capsule of the era. This isn't the best filipino film by far IMO. I could think of 3 Lino Brocka films that are better. Worth a watch though but dragging in a lot of parts.

I consider this as the BEST FILIPINO FILM ever produced. It tackled the lives of various people from different walks of life in a city full of beauty in the daytime but decadence at night. Touched virtually all possible issues prevalent during those times, from drug addiction, prostitution, homosexuality, and so forth. I lived in Manila for the first 24 years of my life and this film excellently portrayed the city. Real. Raw. Spectacular.

All of the actors delivered their parts impeccably. The direction by the great late Ishmael Bernal was nothing short of brilliant. This was regarded to be by critics as the best film he has ever directed (although he has directed other note-worthy films, such as Aunor's Himala, but he's best known for this marvelous flick). This cinematic masterpiece was also ranked in top ten lists as one of the best Filipino films ever created. Exceptional film-making!

10/10