Pop Culture Happy Hour - Watch this: Filipiñana

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

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'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You' shows off Rose Byrne's dramatic chopsKeke Palmer steals the (fashion) scene in 'I Love Boosters'Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour:Letterboxd / FacebookOur weekly newsletterSupport 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.See 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

I feel like golf courses are one of the most egregious examples. Masteful things, yes. 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? 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 problem. lunch. Kind of like if Wes Anderson made an explicitly anti-colonialist satire. I'm Aisha Harris, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Philadelphia Inquirer Arts and Entertainment Editor and Film Critic, Bedatri D. Chaudry. Hey, Bedatry. Hi, very happy to be here. Happy to have you. And also with us is Monica Castillo, film critic for the AV Club. Welcome back, Monica. So glad to be back. Yeah, it's great to have you both. So in Filipiniana, a country club outside

of Manila caters to wealthy international clientele. 17-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 Joryabel Agoto. And the more she absorbs, the more sinister the club begins to seem. Now, Philippiniana is the feature debut of Rafael Manuel and it's in theaters now. But Atri, I'm going to start with you. What do we make of this film? 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. 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 no one seems to mind. Everyone has a straight face. So yeah, those are my initial reactions. I really like the film. I think it was a beautiful film to look at. Yeah, yeah. Monica, how are we feeling about this? 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. Not like Bark City at all. 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. 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 uses his camera to create that still life. That's why we feel a little bit of that West 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. Yeah. I mean, it seems worth calling out the DP here, the cinematographer here, who is Xenia, Patricia. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. 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. Oh, yeah. It's so good. 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. Yeah, and it's both subtle and overt in some of that pointing out both the way that, you know, people misbehave in these resort areas because they think maybe the rule. 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 towards his niece 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. The uniforms, yeah. The uniforms, where they can sit. I think there's a really beautiful, just completely dialogueless, a couple of shots of where you see where all the T-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. Oh, my God. 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. Again, like I like the rest of the film. It's such a beautifully shot scene. But there's also like this 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. 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 bussy Berkeleyish 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. All right, maybe not didactic. That's what I would say, is that it's not didactic, but 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 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, upstairs, 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? 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. Right. 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 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 feel like golf courses are one of the most egregious examples. Mastful things, yes.

Absolutely. 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? 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 Sikian Rana. But, like, he's trying to get his niece to, like, work with him on the club. And she's kind of an ex-patriot. And they had, like, this conversation. 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.

Who carries your things in the U.S.? 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. Welcome back.

But Atri. 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? No, so obviously I was thinking about. beef. I was thinking about white lotus when I was watching this film. But 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 still? Why is it still like this symbol of power and status, 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. And Clara is the niece that we referenced earlier.

Yes, Clara is the niece. Played by Carmen Castellanos. And we do get those kind of both sides. 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 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.

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 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. Polanka and is having this conversation with him. But it was such an awkward position to be in. 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 And who knows how long to be stuck out there and forced into it, kind of an awkward conversation 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. Yeah. And it's hard to watch. 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.

Well, she also says, like, if you, do get hit, you'll get more. How awful is that? Yeah. Yeah. 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. Fish and rice, yeah. And then a few scenes later, Isabel is trying to give a golf club club back to Dr. Polanka 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... Iceing, yeah.

Yeah. 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. 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 elokos that actually her and Dr. Polanka are both from.

And then there's a dark history. Yes. You not get into it. And there's a dark history there. And there's no way to know something exists until you see it, right? Or 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. Yeah.

And so many things are cut off to me. And I think this is what, like, to me, the glue, aside from all the visual lushness and beauty and also just the creeping dread that this movie brings to you, I think could go to his 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. And it's pretty straight face. Like every, it's like there's not much emotion to anything that people are saying. 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 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.

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's in these sort of forbidden places. And she looks, that's when it almost looks like she's like a little girl. Yeah. Like she's unsure of what to do.

And she's hoping not to mess up because it could cost 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 strides 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. 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? 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. Yes. Oh, absolutely. Definitely worth a look. Yeah.

Good August into September, sweating movie. Yes. Very, very true. Well, that brings us to the end of our show, Badatri D. Chaudry and Monica Castillo. Thanks so much for being here. I'm so glad we got to talk about this movie. Thank you so much.

so happy. Me too. Thank you. Yeah. And this episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Lenin Sherburn, and Mike Katzv, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Khamen 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.