Macho Dancer

Lino Brocka's 1989 Filipino film follows Pol, who comes to Manila after his American lover leaves the country. Unable to find work, he starts earning by dancing in nightclubs and is soon inside a network of prostitution and forced labour. The film shows that world in detail but not out of curiosity. The narrative follows how the clubs work, the role of the police and who takes money from whom; the interest lies less in personal misfortune than in this being a system. Brocka was the best known figure in Filipino cinema working on poverty and state violence. The narrative moves into crime in its second half through the line of a missing sister, and the close is harsh. Who it's for: those who follow Filipino cinema and social drama of the eighties. Who it's not for: viewers for whom sexual exploitation and forced labour would sit heavily; the film shows them directly.