Watch this: Filipiñana

Are you tired of the same eat-the-rich narratives churned out by Hollywood? There is a great new film Filipiñana offering a new take about the inner-workings of a country club in the Philippines. It’s both beautiful to look at and an emotional gut-punch. From director Rafael Manuel, this film kind of feels like if Wes Anderson made an explicitly anti-colonialist satire. If you want a few more stylish and biting films, check out these episodes: ‘Is God Is’ interrogates misogyny in a vivid, scathing revenge tale https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5826695/is-god-is-interrogates-misogyny-in-a-vivid-scathing-revenge-tale 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You' shows off Rose Byrne's dramatic chops https://www.npr.org/2025/10/29/nx-s1-5588912/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-shows-off-rose-byrnes-dramatic-chops Keke Palmer steals the (fashion) scene in 'I Love Boosters' https://www.npr.org/2026/05/26/nx-s1-5831472/keke-palmer-steals-the-fashion-scene-in-i-love-boosters Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour: Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/ / Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pchh Our weekly newsletter https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org http://plus.npr.org/. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:15Speaker 01

  I feel like golf courses are one of the most egregious examples.

• 0:18Speaker 02

  Beastful things, yes. Absolutely.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  Of waste, 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?

• 0:36Speaker 01

  There's a great new movie out that's a different kind of Eat the Rich narrative, probably because it's not turned 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 Ayesha Harrison. Joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Philadelphia Inquirer Arts and Entertainment Editor and Film Critic, Badhatri D. Chaudhary. Hey, Badhatri.

• 1:03Speaker 02

  Hi, very happy to be here.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  Happy to have you. And also with us is Monica Castillo, Film Critic for the AV Club. Welcome back, Monica.

• 1:11Speaker 03

  So glad to be back.

• 1:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's great to have you both. So, in Filipiniana, a country club outside of Manila caters to wealthy international clientele. Seventeen-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 Jori Bell Agoto. And the more she absorbs, the more sinister the club begins to seem. Now, Filipiniana is the feature debut of Rafael Manuel, and it's in theaters now. Badhatri, I'm going to start with you. What do we make of this film?

• 1:42Speaker 02

  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.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  I'm glad you said Wes Anderson, but also like a little bit of Bong Joon Ho, because like, very weird things are happening on screen, and you, and no one seems to mind. Everyone has a straight face. So, yeah, those are my initial reactions. I really liked the film. I think it was a beautiful film to look at.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Monica, how are we feeling about this?

• 2:45Speaker 03

  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.

• 2:55Speaker 02

  Not like Park City at all.

• 2:57Speaker 03

  Not quite. But in looking at these beautiful, sort of like, almost postcard imagery with this really fascinating pastel uniforms, and like, it almost looks palatial, this golf club resort area. And you fall in love with like, how, 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.

• 3:42Speaker 03

  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.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, it seems worth calling out the DP here, the cinematographer here, who is Xenia Patricia.

• 4:22Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  And 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 a slow burn type of movie.

• 4:41Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. You soak it in.

• 4:42Speaker 02

  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, like, tell you something quickly. I really love that aspect.

• 5:01Speaker 03

  Yeah. And it's both subtle and overt in some of that, pointing out both of 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 of the uncle, there's an uncle character in the mix. He's so thoughtful for, towards his niece.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:27Speaker 03

  And reminds her to hydrate very early on in the film. And then later on in the movie, kind of scares one of the employees for trying to refill her water bottle, and like, jokes at her, like, making light of the fact that she's also trying to just survive this oppressive heat. And it's like, wait, why would you, why would you do that to her? And make her feel bad for trying to survive working for you? But that's part of that very subtle, quiet way that Manuel has, is approaching this subject. It's not a very overt, they're not like cartoonishly bad or horrendous, but it's in the little ways that they treat people differently. And there's a, there's a clear hierarchy between each of the employees, and even within the ranks.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  The uniforms, yeah.

• 6:11Speaker 03

  The uniforms, where they can sit. I think there's a really beautiful, just completely dialogueless couple of shots of where you see where all the tea girls are kind of taking a siesta, crowded in a room. At least they're out of the heat, that's it. That's the only comfort that they can take. But they're all trying to, you know, get a little rest in between sets or so. And then you cut over to their boss.

• 6:35Speaker 02

  Oh, my god.

• 6:35Speaker 03

  Who's in a different uniform. She has her own room, she has her own television, and she's sitting right in front of an air conditioning unit. And so you get a sense of that sort of stratosphere.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  Again, like, I like the rest of the film. It's such a beautifully shot scene, but there's also like this.

• 6:51Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  Very, again, like, not choreography and like, song and dance, but it's a very choreographed scene in the way the girls try and like, feel a little bit of comfort of that room.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. But there is choreography in this film, right? Because that's another thing that's so striking about this, is that early on, we see when all of the employees of this country club are getting ready for the new batch of tourists to arrive, and guests to arrive. It feels buzzy Berkeley-ish in a way, where at one point, you're seeing them all like, brooming and sweeping at the same pace and in rhythm, and like, lifting the tablecloths and all those things. And it's, it's very, I guess I would push back a little bit on the idea that this movie is subtle, because I don't think this movie is really subtle at all.

• 7:35Speaker 03

  All right, maybe not didactic.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's, that's what I would say, is that it's, it's not didactic, but it, it is overt, I think, in the contrasts and everything that you all have talked about. The didacticism, I think, comes from, if you see this, or if you're already familiar with the Philippines and the way the economy works, there's all this subtext that I think is there, and, and, and the fact that like, and I didn't know any of this before, watching this movie, but after watching it, I was curious, like, okay, what is the story here? Because, you know, as I said, we've seen so many versions of upstairs, downstairs, the rich people are awful and careless, like, especially coming out of Hollywood and out of Europe, and we've seen those kinds of stories. Why does this feel different to me?

• 8:18Speaker 01

  And I'm not really sure I can express it, but, you know, having read up on this and understanding the fact that this movie is drawing on so much history in the Philippines, the fact that, like, it's still a very heavily agrarian economy, and that farming and that land is often owned by really rich families.

• 8:38Speaker 03

  Right.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  Like, and the farmers who till it have no economic input into it. They're making barely anything. And so there has been, like, in the last few decades, attempts to reclaim the land and, and get the land back, especially to indigenous people who have been moved out to make way for plantations. But because of so much, so many different factors, that is not borne out. And so sometimes that land is meant for farming, and other times, like here, it's turned into these empty spaces of golf courses. And I feel like this movie is kind of speaking to me in particular, because I, I feel like golf courses are one of the most egregious examples.

• 9:16Speaker 02

  Beastful things, yes. Absolutely.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  Of waste, of waste. So much land that could be used for something else, but instead they're using all the water. I, I feel like they precursor data centers. Like, they are, like, why are they here? Only the very few, the very rich are able to benefit from it. And that is all in this film, in this subtext. And, you know, you mentioned the uncle, Uncle Renato, who's played by Carlito Sigyon Reyna. But like, he's trying to get his niece to like, work with him on the club, and she's kind of an expatriate. And they have like, this conversation, and, and at one point, she's going around the club with a caddy, like, they're doing, you know, golf clubs, and the caddy asks her, like, you know.

• 9:58Speaker 02

  Who carries your things in the U.S.?

• 10:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. Who carries your bags in the U.S.? And the niece is just like, well, people usually just carry their own bags. That, to me, is like, that's, if not the subtlety, that's the pointed sort of critique that I think really works here. Well, after the break, we're going to talk about why this feels so different from things like White Lotus and, you know, other similar Hollywood stories, so stick around.

• 10:23Speaker 00

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• 12:20Speaker 01

  Welcome back. Benatry, have you felt the same way of like, oh, we've had so many of these stories? And like, how do we find a new way in?

• 12:27Speaker 02

  No, so obviously I was thinking about Beef. I was thinking about White Lotus when I was watching this film, but

• 12:33Speaker 01

  White Lotus, definitely, yeah.

• 12:34Speaker 02

  What stuck out for me that the tourists and the rich people are not white in this film, right? Which is the case with Beef and White Lotus. The White Lotus is, of course, about mostly white Americans embarrassing themselves in many ways. But what was really interesting to me is that everyone in this film is a person of color. You see, most of the tourists are rich Chinese and of course, rich Filipinos. And especially having grown up in India, you know, with a very strong post-colonial upbringing, it's very interesting to see that, why does golf mean so much to you? It's an alien game in your country, but why does it, why is it still like this symbol of power and status?

• 13:18Speaker 02

  Which is true of India as well. So that kind of like resonated with me. And it's very interesting because we have the character of Clara, who is like kind of the diasporic gaze and who's like looking into the quote unquote, a country where she's from, but is not really from. And the other gaze is from the laborers. And so it's kind of like this 1% comes into this double scrutiny from these women from very different parts of the society.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  And Clara is the niece that we referenced earlier.

• 13:54Speaker 02

  Yes, Clara is the niece, yes.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  Played by Carmen Castellanos. And we do get those kind of both sides. We like Clara and then we have Isabel, who is kind of our main set of eyes. And she, as I already mentioned, is the one who's, she's new and she is kind of, actually, now that I think about, both Clara and Isabel are kind of new or kind of outsider, like fully engrossed in this, in this world. But yeah, Monica, I'm curious of like, how does this stand apart from maybe a lot of more recent films about these similar subject matter for you?

• 14:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think for me, a number of the other comparisons, and I think White Lotus was definitely the first one that came to mind when I was thinking about it and I ended up writing about that for the AV Club. Like those comparisons of like upstairs, downstairs happen so much in the dialogue and it feels very overt. And I think that's why for me, if this one feels so subtle, is that it's the imagery that's telling a lot of the story. I'm, I have the image of Isabel when she's working as a tea girl, like crouched down almost by the knees of the men who are golfing. And that's when she meets Dr. Palanca and is having this conversation with him. But it's such an awkward position to be in.

• 15:10Speaker 03

  And to be a 17-year-old girl, you know, tasked with sweating in the sun, keep positioning this tiny little golf ball between this guy's legs and letting him have a swing and then waiting for the next one for who knows how long to be stuck out there and forced into a kind of an awkward conversation.

• 15:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  Is just so, so striking. And I feel so bad for her without her having to say that she's miserable. She's in the sun, you know, this is weird. This is just how it is and how she's expected to behave.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:42Speaker 03

  And it's hard to watch.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then she's, I remember she's also scared that she'd be hit and her friend tells her, don't worry, it doesn't hurt much.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Well, she also says like, if you do get hit, you'll get hit more.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  So how awful is that?

• 15:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 03

  And that's adding, all these little layers are, you know, appear throughout both in the dialogue and visually. The other moment that comes not long after that is when all the women are in the mess hall and, you know, they just have a very basic lunch of fish and rice.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  Fish and rice, yeah.

• 16:13Speaker 03

  And then a few scenes later, Isabel is trying to give a golf club back to Dr. Palanca and is going through parts of the resort or the golf club, you know, that places that she hadn't been before. It becomes like a kind of key that unlocks the resort to her. She was even scolded for laying out in the grass because that, you're not allowed to be there if you're not a caddy. You know, that's how off limits so much of the place is. But here, she finally is able to see parts of this palatial resort, see the food and desserts. And she's like even trying to treat herself to a little bit of just the meringue on top of a

• 16:49Speaker 02

  I say, yeah.

• 16:50Speaker 03

  Of a top of a cake. And you're like, wow, yeah, they won't even give her that crumb. And it visually hurts you to see it, but it also brings, you know, so much attention to that experience and how she's so cut off from it.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's interesting because you get the sense that she is learning that these things even exist. Like we learn later on that she's from rural elocos, that actually her and Dr. Palanca are both from.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  And then there's a dark history that she will not get into.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  And there's a dark history there. And there's no way to know something exists until you see it, right? Her sort of coming into this world and thinking like, oh, this is how I'm going to make some money. But then realizing, oh, the grass literally is so green here. And so many things are cut off to me. And I think this is what, like to me, what the glue, aside from all the visual lushness and beauty and also just the creeping dread that this movie brings to you. I think Agoto's performance here as Isabel is so, it's a tough one to pull off, right? Because she doesn't say that much throughout the film.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  And it's pretty straight face, like every, it's like, there's not much emotion to anything that people are saying.

• 18:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, right. But I think what she is able to do, the performer is able to do, is really so much of it relies on the audience to sort of try and figure out what she's feeling in that moment. And I think there's a way in which that could just be like a, like a complete vortex and there's not much going on. But I do think Agoto, there are moments where you can kind of sense that there is something going on beneath there. And I just found her very compelling to watch, even when it wasn't quite clear, like, how is she reacting? Like, what is this feeling? It's hard to pull off, but I think she does do it quite well. And it's part of why this movie works so well for me.

• 18:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, absolutely. Her body language throughout the film shifts very subtly. It's again, not very overt. But I think like the way that she takes her smoke breaks with her coworkers is so different than, you know, when she is in these sort of forbidden places and she looks, that's when it almost looks like she's like a little girl. Like she's unsure of what to do and she's hoping not to mess up because it could cost her her job. But at the same token, she becomes a little bit more bold as the movie goes on. And she continues as she like pushes forward throughout the resort. She gets a little bit more confidence and then her stride starts to change. The way she enters a room starts to change. I also think about the scene where she gets involved in like a dance.

• 19:22Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:23Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, because that's really lovely. But it also, it feels like that moment where she's like tasting a little bit of the cake. This is not a part of her regular experience. This is not something that she's privy to. Just to have a little taste of that, now what? How is she supposed to just let that go?

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think it's a little bit slow going sometimes, but if you can stay through the end, you should stay through the end. The end credits specifically. One of the most haunting things I've seen on a screen in a very long time. Yeah, I think we really want to encourage people to see this.

• 19:58Speaker 02

  Oh, absolutely, yes.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  Definitely worth a look. Yeah, yeah.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  Good August into September sweating movie.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Very, very true. Well, that brings us to the end of our show. Benatry DeChaudry and Monica Castillo. Thanks so much for being here. I'm so glad we got to talk about this movie.

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. I'm so happy.

• 20:15Speaker 03

  Me too. Thank you.

• 20:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. And this episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Lenon Sherburne and Mike Katsev and edited by our showrunner Jessica Riedi. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. And thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris and we'll see you all next time.

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