For a long time, 1980 has been perceived and commented upon as a kind of breakthrough moment of rule-flouting, a decade’s natural culmination by which time the tenets of independent cinema that defined the preceding 10 years were absorbed into the mainstream and audiences were allegedly more willing to accept the outré. In its bounty of homo-friendly studio-financed movies, the year did seem to mark some kind of shift. Looking back, however, it’s evident that this response was perhaps overzealous and not just because in the Marcos era, we were about to swing back into a conservative mode of de-sexualized filmmaking that we have yet to crawl out from under. Ishmael Bernal's Manila by Night (Regal Films, Inc.) offers a far more complex inquiry into questions around gay representation, and the way it functions as a sly, surreptitious condemnation of the inherent homophobia of audiences and filmmakers alike. Manila by Night becomes a fairly spot-on evocation of the personal and cultural derangement of the closet. The tortuous ways that boys, just like the film’s structure itself, play hide-and-seek with identity and eroticism is a commentary on social conditioning. Bernal’s film, as a mainstream studio product ostensibly preoccupied with people who fashion themselves as societal rule-breakers, is in no way a countercultural work, yet its characters are constantly negotiating public and private registers, journeying into the dangerous night to either hide or reveal their true selves. For Manay Sharon (Bernardo Bernardo) and Kano (Cherie Gil) this negotiation is particularly acute, everyone else seems to have erotic designs on sexual presumptions about them. What makes Manila by Night a satisfying yet poignant queer film is that even after they have revealed themselves, they both maintain their outsider status.
This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution from the 35mm positive film prints at Central Digital Lab. The restoration was undertaken by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Save Our Cinema Restoration Program of the Philippine Film Archive (PFA). The visuals have proper and solid density, the lack of compromising digital adjustments ensures an all-around stable organic appearance. The color grading is outstanding. There are nicely balanced and very healthy primaries, plus excellent ranges of supporting and equally healthy nuances. In terms of overall balance and fluidity this presentation is on an entirely different level, strengthening and preserving the film’s native organic qualities. There are no stability issues. Debris, damage marks, scratches, cuts, stains and all other distracting age-related imperfections have been completely removed. It’s an excellent restoration. The Vanishing Tribe's music effortlessly enhances the intended atmosphere and never disturbs the film's native dynamic balance. The dialog is clear, stable and very clean. There are no pops, audio dropouts or distortions. For decades of moviemaking, gayness has equaled coyness and that hasn’t changed even today. Yet there was one studio release from 1980 that directly and cleverly addressed the manner in which Filipino films deploy homosexual characters and more importantly, how audiences are instructed to engage or more often, disengage with them.
Screenplay: Ishmael Bernal
Music: Vanishing Tribe
Director of Photography: Sergio Lobo, FSC
Film Editor: Augusto Salvador
Sound Supervision: Vic Macamay
Production Design: Peque Gallaga
Directed By: Ishmael Bernal
