You know when something is so perfect, you refuse to believe it’s true?

In Filpiñana, tee-ball girl Isabel is working at a picture-perfect golf resort in the Phillipines, enduring the brutal heat and the meager portions just to get by. We don’t know much about her, only that she’s one of the many girls who are regarded as mere lowly employees at a resort whose clients are glad to waste water while those on the other side of the divide would die for it. In their sleek baby-blue uniforms, girls like Isabel are scene decorations, existing within a grand picture that promises nothing but comfort and luxury for those who can afford it.

Yet there’s something else in this resort. There’s plenty of mango trees, but there’s also a young girl who’s seen running off unaccounted for throughout the golf courses. There’s wealthy businessmen who seem to advocate for bolstering the future of Phillipines, but only under specific hierarchies and agrarian policies. There’s beautiful architecture, but there’s also trees that are uprooted and displaced once they get too dehydrated from the drought. Everything may seem clean, but it’s still dirty.

If you’re going in expecting a thriller, you might want to think again. There’s certainly a lot of things in Filipiñana’s favor that would argue for a thriller classification. There’s the pretty-place-with-dark-undertones setting, mysterious men with murky intentions, and a general vibe that’s alluring yet off-putting at the same time. You don’t know whether you want to visit this resort or flee at your first convenience. It’s like The White Lotus, except there’s less Oedipal fuckery.

The film’s pacing is both a great strength and an overwhelming weakness. This isn’t just a slow-burn–this is a Thanksgiving turkey being cooked for eleven hours. I found myself shifting in my seat in the theater, just waiting for some scenes to hurry up. At least I can say this seemed designed by director/editor Rafael Munuel. He’s not lingering on the shot for the sake of lingering on the shot. In fact, there’s scenes where you can argue that lingering is on purpose. We might be concerned for what is happening to the characters, but depending on their position, the other characters in the mise-en-scene might not simply care. As an audience, we are placed in the position of the third party, trying to scream at the protagonist with our words failing to reach them.

Still, there were some times where the pacing was so slow I kept wondering if the director would get going with the other plotlines. I feel like if this film were paced better it would be quite an interesting thriller, especially with themes of class fitting in very well with upstairs-downstairs dramas like Diary of a Chambermaid. But part of me is also glad we didn’t get a traditional eat-the-rich film. This film doesn’t let the rich off the hook, but chooses to focus more on the workers who still keep working despite having every reason to murder their employers.

There’s clues throughout as to the broader sociopolitical context behind the characters’ motivations. At one point, the prestigious guest and presidential candidate Dr. Palanca mentions something about the 1988 agrarian reforms in Phillipines, which brought about a wealth of destruction and displacement for many marginalized citizens in rural areas. In spite of its aims to create a more fairly distributed land system among its citizens, many people found themselves pushed out and forced to continue to slave away under harsh conditions. While the Phillipines no longer has a monarchy ruling over it, capitalism has taken over as the new king.

Despite the missed opportunities of the slow pacing, I thought this was a perfectly fine class drama. By stretching the aesthetics to a point of no return, Rafael Munuel forces us to confront the brutality behind the beauty. The golf course might look like the Garden of Eden, but there’s also heavy metal clubs, creepy men, and workers with dead eyes. It might be heaven, but it might as well be hell.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

• That tour guide’s bone structure was GORGEOUS.
• I can’t believe this whole film used to be a thesis short film for Rafael Munuel. I sure as shit hope the teachers gave him a good grade.
• I feel like if Clara and Isabel met up, they could take down the golf resort together. Missed opportunity of all time.