Filipino Movies - Highly Rated, a list by Christian

7.5

/2428/

73

/64/

74

/62/

4.0

/6147/

93

/41/

79

/25/

81

/10/

RogerEbert

3.0

An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced to take a harsh sentence; and a mother and her two children wander the countryside in search of some kind of redemption.

78

76

7.6

/9544/

74

/323/

72

/164/

3.8

/5231/

94

/31/

90

/102/

65

/11/

Looking for a brighter future in metropolitan Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family leave their miserable life in the rice terraces of Banaue, in the northern Philippines. In the sweltering capital, where all kind of perils lurk in every corner, Oscar catches a lucky break when he is offered a steady work for an armored truck company and the senior officer Ong takes him under his wing.

75

7.1

/1792/

71

/46/

70

/64/

3.9

/3051/

80

/20/

77

/5/

83

/13/

RogerEbert

3.0

After 30 years of wrongful imprisonment for murder, a woman is released from prison and plans to take revenge on the man who framed her - her former lover, a wealthy member of the ruling class.

75

60

7.3

/2770/

76

/121/

77

/46/

3.7

/10944/

78

/9/

89

/19/

58

/5/

A Filipino general who believes he can turn the tide of battle in the Philippine-American war. But little does he know that he faces a greatest threat to the country's revolution against the invading Americans.

73

59

7.0

/1672/

64

/34/

70

/38/

3.6

/1890/

89

/18/

81

/106/

70

/7/

Maxi, a boy on the cusp of his teens, is already comfortable with his homosexual feelings, with acceptance from his family. When Maxi is assaulted one evening, Victor, a police officer, comes to his aid. Maxi soon develops a crush on Victor, who shows a platonic affection for the young lad.

81

52

7.7

/941/

72

/33/

82

/25/

4.0

/8271/

100

/245/

A young woman gets married but her authoritarian father refuses to let her out of his sight.

82

51

7.7

/949/

68

/25/

79

/32/

4.2

/3243/

89

/9/

94

/2/

88

/5/

The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad, and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081, putting the entire country under Martial Law.

74

50

8.0

/991/

79

/31/

76

/14/

3.8

/2964/

63

/8/

97

/51/

53

/6/

A boy builds a coffin for his terminally ill grandmother, while raising money to buy a wheelchair for his sister.

81

47

7.9

/1089/

71

/16/

80

/20/

4.1

/6399/

97

/30/

When plain orphan Elsa begins having visions of the Virgin Mary, the rest of the residents of her isolated village find themselves questioning their own beliefs and values. Soon, Elsa is healing people with a variety of ailments. As word of this phenomenon spreads, tourists, pilgrims, patients and a documentary filmmaker all arrive on a quest to partake in the miracle.

73

46

7.5

/933/

67

/80/

67

/17/

3.3

/4569/

93

/74/

Popoy and Basha had been together forever. Their love story began when they first met as students at university. They had been inseparable and did everything together—eating, studying and attending parties. However, Popoy's incessant planning and nagging took a toll on their relationship leading Basha to break-up with him.

76

46

7.3

/1220/

79

/155/

66

/18/

3.8

/19548/

86

/22/

The children of the Salazar family have been pursuing separate lives in the recent years. After a few years of not being together as a whole family, they find themselves reuniting when CJ announces his plan to marry Princess, his girlfriend for three months. Much to their shock and dismay, CJ's sisters come together for the wedding and have agreed to dissuade him from marrying his fiancée.

72

46

7.0

/1482/

77

/189/

71

/35/

3.4

/14632/

76

/12/

Seventeen-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous; however, she falls in love with him.

73

43

7.5

/2107/

80

/57/

72

/28/

3.3

/1745/

Joselito is a mentally-challenged man who is wrongfully charged with sexually assaulting and murdering a little girl. In prison, he becomes friends with his fellow inmates and together they form a plan to smuggle his young daughter inside the cell! Years after, his daughter becomes a lawyer and is determined to prove her father's innocence.

62

41

7.3

/1802/

74

/133/

62

/114/

3.4

/12662/

37

/8/

A bartender and a domestic helper of Filipino origin living in Hong Kong find themselves falling in love, but they each have different plans for their future.

79

40

7.4

/460/

73

/20/

71

/11/

3.9

/1544/

100

/6/

In the Philippines, women get deployed abroad to work as domestic workers or nannies. In one of the many training centers dedicated to domestic work, a group of trainees are getting ready to face both homesickness and the possible abuses lying ahead during a series of role-playing exercises.

75

40

7.5

/596/

67

/15/

77

/31/

4.2

/2060/

Spanning 1971 to 1987, in rural areas under the brutal Marcos regime, a poor farming family struggle to overcome challenges brought on by corruption and greed for power.

73

34

7.1

/281/

62

/9/

70

/7/

3.8

/1548/

88

/8/

One of the Philippines' top investigators, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, faces a deep moral crossroads. As a firsthand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign conducted by his force, his anxiety and guilt triggers a severe skin disease, and his healing process is fraught by his dark past.

72

33

7.5

/1048/

79

/25/

62

/15/

3.7

/6591/

Trisha, a Filipino transgender woman, suddenly dies while being crowned in a beauty pageant. Her last wish was to be presented as a different celebrity on each night of her wake, but her conservative father wants to bury her as a man.

79

33

7.7

/734/

75

/20/

75

/12/

3.9

/3065/

94

/13/

The story follows the Lorenzos and the Ojedas, the two land-owning clans in the island province of Negros, who were trying to cope and survive the war that lasted three tumultuous years, where they experienced or witnessed violence, blood, horror, and death. It is structured into three parts: Oro, a life of luxury and comfort in the city; Plata, a still-luxurious time of refuge in a provincial hacienda; and finally, Mata, a toilsome retreat deeper into the mountains. A war not only turned them into miserable people but also turned them into animals.

77

32

7.6

/701/

81

/58/

81

/11/

3.5

/10709/

The Bonifacio siblings reunite when they find out their father is diagnosed with cancer. In the process, they have to deal with unresolved issues among themselves before it's too late.

69

32

7.3

/1268/

72

/63/

62

/19/

3.5

/7115/

70

/6/

A woman struggling to meet airline baggage requirements meets a man who comes to her aid. They form a friendship that helps them mend each other's hearts.

70

31

7.3

/697/

77

/23/

56

/18/

3.8

/3008/

Sid Lucero, a 21-year old pre-Med student, is an aspiring neophyte of the Alpha Kappa Omega fraternity. Over a six-month initiation period, he and six other neophytes are subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in and outside the fraternity house.

72

31

7.5

/1326/

74

/52/

76

/22/

3.0

/6953/

77

/3/

Lea is a tour guide in Japan who suffered from temporary blindness and if not cured in a few weeks could be permanent. Tonyo who lives right across from Lea is persistent and determined to be her friend. They then become closer and Lea has seen the true character of Tonyo.

73

31

7.3

/1046/

74

/80/

60

/17/

3.5

/5590/

90

/5/

Ordinary People is a family portrait of Jane, 16, and her boyfriend, Aries, who live on their own in the chaotic streets of Manila. Surviving as pickpockets, the lives of the young couple change when they suddenly become teenage parents. But not even a month into parenthood, their child is stolen from them. In order to retrieve the child, the young couple is forced to take desperate measures.

73

30

7.2

/525/

85

/51/

62

/12/

3.7

/4868/

Surrounded by tensions and secrets, a teenage boy searches for validation and navigates life with a dysfunctional family following an HIV diagnosis.

79

30

7.8

/573/

80

/18/

80

/10/

3.9

/5241/

A fourteen-year-old farm boy’s life is suddenly upended when a video of him brutally attacking a classmate goes viral.

71

30

7.2

/575/

68

/25/

71

/13/

3.5

/3612/

75

/16/

Cynical filmmakers plan on producing a bleak, independent film dealing with poverty and prostitution in the hopes of scoring free travel to international film festivals.

77

29

7.8

/524/

75

/28/

80

/9/

3.8

/12855/

Despite their differences, an aspiring architect falls for her deaf neighbor, who teaches her basic sign language.

70

29

7.4

/347/

66

/8/

76

/15/

3.9

/931/

60

An artist struggles to finish his work while a storyline about a cult plays in his head. As the cult spirals towards a fundamentalism that will destroy the world, the artist decides to destroy his muse to redeem the world.

71

29

7.0

/585/

73

/28/

73

/13/

3.4

/24151/

Days before graduation, two college best friends go on one last road trip where they settle how they really feel for each other.

76

29

7.1

/1937/

78

/89/

69

/8/

3.2

/3121/

100

/1/

Fely is an elderly woman who finds second chance at youth after a visit to a mysterious photo studio.

77

28

7.5

/704/

70

/21/

75

/11/

3.7

/2794/

91

/8/

Edgar's family is caught in a financial ruin after being involved in a Ponzi scheme. With their church's bishop refusing to return their donation, and his daughter subsequently kidnapped, he seeks the aid of his criminally inclined family.

74

28

7.7

/614/

68

/18/

72

/6/

3.7

/3396/

83

/15/

A socio-realist drama-comedy ﬁlm, it follows a seemingly usual day in the life of Loida Malabanan as she embarks on yet another shooting day of a soap opera as an extra. As the shoot goes on, we get a glimpse of the truth in the ruling system of the production as well as the exploitation of the marginalized laborers like her.

69

28

7.0

/582/

77

/35/

71

/17/

2.9

/7312/

Throughout his four years in college, Fidel, a stuttering student, tries to finish 100 poems dedicated to Stella, an aspiring but frustrated rock star, to win her heart.

70

28

7.0

/687/

72

/36/

65

/13/

3.2

/6387/

79

/12/

A whirlwind romance blossoms between Ginny, an architecture student, and Marco, a professor at her university. Over the course of a decade, dreams get bigger and circumstance brings them apart… yet against all odds, they find each other again—will they make the most of this second chance?

73

27

7.4

/593/

75

/39/

72

/5/

3.7

/13259/

A powerful and moving historical drama that tells the courageous story of three Filipino Catholic priests: Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora.

76

27

7.5

/257/

65

/9/

72

/8/

4.2

/4513/

The episodically connected lives of four college friends unfold throughout the incipient martial law years, as they struggle to define their sexual and professional desires and how best to attain them.

60

27

7.4

/399/

51

/5/

77

/17/

3.9

/1230/

25

/2/

59

/4/

Andrés Bonifacio is celebrated as the father of the Philippines Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. This eight-hour epic examines this myth, undertaking an expedition into history through various interwoven narrative threads, held together by an exploration of the individual’s role in history.

79

26

7.4

/368/

81

/13/

84

/5/

4.0

/27268/

Just days before her team's tryouts for the Olympics, dedicated young gymnast Sunshine discovers she is pregnant. Now she must embark on a desperate and risky journey to fight for her dream.

75

26

7.5

/570/

79

/43/

81

/16/

3.4

/1063/

The story of gamers turned lovers Cairo and Gavreel, to spend time together in Gavreel's house, a few weeks before Cairo returns to his province. What starts out as a romantic holiday for the young couple turns into a relationship test that they have to overcome. Cairo is faced with the reality of his imminent departure while Gavreel is compelled to make a life-changing decision. After defying distance and even the pandemic, will Cairo and Gavreel be able to prove once again that their love for each other is strong enough to withstand fate and circumstance?

64

26

7.0

/633/

77

/76/

46

/8/

3.2

/3674/

A bumbling crew of friends aspires to be known as the town's best thieves but plotting their first big heist seems more difficult than pulling it off.

68

25

7.2

/263/

51

/7/

70

/13/

3.8

/1796/

71

/11/

The hidden nightlife of ordinary people living in Manila unveils. Lovers and families conflict with each other as they live on the streets, which are rampant with drugs and prostitution.

75

25

7.0

/611/

79

/53/

79

/9/

3.4

/5438/

83

/4/

It tells the story of young lovers who tries to build a life together until career opportunities sends them to a different country where their relationship will be tested.

79

25

7.4

/690/

77

/39/

77

/12/

3.4

/5059/

100

/2/

A girl named Mika decides to go on a road trip to look for aliens. During her trip, she accidentally bumps into Caloy whom she gives a free ride to until he reaches his destination. Mika then finds out that Caloy has cancer but despite it, he has learned to accept his fate. Both embark on a journey filled with adventures and misadventures not knowing they would fall in love with each other along the way.

71

25

7.7

/307/

77

/48/

62

/8/