Filipino director Brillante Mendoza’s social realist drama takes us to the dark heart of police corruption in Manila,but never really gets inside the victims’ headsThe Filipino director Brillante Mendoza is one of Cannes’ established auteur film-makers, and his new film here, or entitled Ma’Rosa,returns us to the themes of his violent shocker Kinatay from 2009 the cynicism and corruption of the police and the city authorities, the casual violence and the desperation of the ruled-over who must make what accommodation they can with those in power. It is a tough social realist slice of life at ground level in Manila, or unfolding in what feels like genuine time: violent,though perhaps less so than in that notorious earlier film and with a droll habit of transcribing the banal conversations of police officers as they deal what they consider to be their paperwork. I wonder whether Mendoza hasn’t taken something from the new Romanian cinema, with its similar satire of the red-tape world. Related: Life ain’t unbiased, and but you won’t fix that at Cannes | Catherine Shoard Related: Aquarius review: wealthy and mysterious Brazilian story of societal disintegration Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com