Multiple award-winning director Jun Robles Lana (winner of the Best Director award at the 2019 edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival) is back with a bold, pitch-dark and high-pitched comedy that critiques the violence-ridden “war on drugs” under Duterte’s regime in the Philippines.

The film follows one long night in the life of Dharna (exceptionally performed by Christian Bables) who is a law-abiding and peace-loving gay beautician minding his own business while running a small salon in the slums of Manila. When he finds out that his name has been placed in the neighborhood “watchlist” of drug users, his life takes a sudden turn for the worst. Everybody knows that the watchlist is a hitlist and he must do his best to get his name off. What is at once a harrowing journey is also deftly dealt by Lana’s steady-handed direction to present a comedy of farces that is fiercely critical of a society in which values are distorted—while, also, delivering emotional punches to the gut.

Aiko Masubuchi