Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Manila in the Claws of Neon

1975 2h 5m Drama Mystery & Thriller List
100% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 86% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Julio, a fisherman from a poor area, descends into social alienation.

Where to Watch

Manila in the Claws of Neon

Critics Reviews

View All (10) Critics Reviews
Manohla Dargis New York Times The film moves to the alternating beats created by its characters' hopes and their miseries, by their talk of a different kind of future and the crushing reality of their present circumstances. Feb 6, 2014 Full Review Inkoo Kang Village Voice The intimate proletarian melodrama The Claws of Light succeeds where so many political allegories fail: With ethical and emotional sophistication, it dramatizes the suffering of the disadvantaged with characters that feel individual yet archetypal. Feb 4, 2014 Full Review Keith Uhlich Time Out Lino Brocka's devastating ... melodrama opens with several stunning, grainy black-and-white shots of Manila, striking a beautiful balance between on-the-ground verisimilitude and fable-like eeriness. Rated: 4/5 Feb 4, 2014 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills It’s a downbeat tale that Brocka keeps suspended between neo-realism and melodrama, never letting it get overwhelmed by either irredeemable bleakness or excess hand-wringing. Aug 12, 2022 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com A significant pillar of Filipino cinema at last recuperated, Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light is a profoundly sympathetic melodrama cloaked in gritty neo-realism. Rated: 4/5 Aug 18, 2020 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse Brocka's look is quite accusatory, with him blaming the "capital" for exploiting the poor and the authorities for cooperating fully with the rich. Inevitably, this lack of any kind of prosperity and providence also leads to moral decay, Mar 15, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (17) audience reviews
William L Viewing the narrative from a high-level summary, you might be tempted to shrug and write Manila off as just another portrayal of 'suffering in the city', a story that's been told hundreds of times. But the film really doesn't come across like a cheap knockoff or a color-by-numbers melodrama; the city is alive with a vibrant, twisted energy where each interaction reinforces just how valueless human life is considered. Julio's suffering is allegorical as most of the film is (most of the character names are some form of a play on words) - as the embodiment of the working class, he represents a determined and purehearted individual gradually caught up in the moral degradation of a society attempting to exploit him, by his countrymen from all walks of life as well as by various foreign interests. Julio's story is pretty straightforward, but he's really the vehicle used to represent the city around him. In Brocka's vision, Manila sucks people in with a gravitational pull before sticking to them like tar, a dirty wonderland of vice with little hope for true escape. (4/5) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/19/21 Full Review marc r Allegorical without becoming abstract. The protagonist's struggles feel grounded in reality even as they're elevated to the level of fable. An act of impassioned political and moral filmmaking. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A cinematic masterpiece! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/05/20 Full Review Audience Member 4/14/2019 This masterpiece by acclaimed director Lino Brocka is a microcosm of what it was like trying to make it in the big city almost half a century ago. It encapsulates and condenses the hits and mostly misses of the working class, enumerates the different ways people try to earn a decent and captures the countless misses and tragedies that befalls the brave souls who dare. The final image is haunting as it summarizes everything that our protagonist has gone through in the entire ordeal: utter surrender. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review S R 1001 movies to see before you die. Painful to watch and a little tedious, but it was an important film for the Philippines and a good time capsule. The stark poverty was moving. It was on CRI. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/22/23 Full Review Audience Member 7.8/10, my review: http://wp.me/p1eXom-2V6 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Manila in the Claws of Neon

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

State of Siege 75% 89% State of Siege The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea 75% 48% The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea Wake in Fright 97% 83% Wake in Fright Straw Dogs 82% 82% Straw Dogs Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Julio, a fisherman from a poor area, descends into social alienation.
Director
Lino Brocka
Producer
Mike de Leon, Severino Manotok Jr.
Screenwriter
Clodualdo Del Mundo Jr.
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Filipino
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 19, 2018
Runtime
2h 5m
Most Popular at Home Now