Honor Thy Father

Erik Matti's 2015 Filipino film follows a family ruined by a pyramid scheme. Edgar's wife's family had given most of the money to their church; the church refuses to return it, and when their daughter is kidnapped Edgar has to go back to his own past. The film takes aim directly at religious institutions. Methods of collecting donations, pressure inside a congregation and the impossibility of holding anyone to account sit at the centre, and Matti delivers this inside the crime film form. John Lloyd Cruz, known for romantic comedy, appears here in an entirely different kind of role. The violence is hard and the close merciless. The film caused argument in the Philippines on release. Who it's for: those who like Filipino crime cinema and drama that criticises institutions. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with religious institutions being attacked.