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Crime,

ON OUR RADAR - Metro Manila gets a poster, official synopsis & we get a brief update from Director Sean Ellis

We are huge fans of Director Sean Ellis’s work and are always keeping our ear to the ground for any news on his projects, so were very excited to hear a small informal update from him earlier today.

 If you don’t know Sean Ellis’s work by now you really should - Ellis has already achieved remarkable success as a high end photographer & directing commercials with his films exhibiting all the technical ability of a future master film maker honing his craft and we can’t wait to see his next feature Metro Manila.

 I first came to know Ellis’s work when I was introduced to his Academy nominated short film Cashback by a friend back in 2005. It stars a hotbed of UK talent like amongst others: Michelle Ryan, Sean Biggerstaff, Michael Dixon, Emilia Fox, Keeley Hazell and Mad Men’s Jared Harris. Ellis went on to expand the multiple award winning 18 minute short into a full feature that absolutely blew my mind - it was something so fresh an original and unlike anything else that British filmmakers of the day were thinking about - there are no guns, no gangsters, no exploitive grimy environmental conditions, no revenge or hidden agendas but there is a kind of a feel good factor without the saccharine after taste that is sadly all to rare on British screens.


Cashback is one of those rare films that manages to merge Art and Cult in an absorbing tale that is a joy to watch. It is on my list of greatest films ever made and even though Ellis is an accomplished photographer it is hard to believe that Cashback was his directorial debut.

At first glance Cashback may be accused of being light of depth and a feature length film shot with a commercial’s sensibilities but past Sean Ellis and Cinematographer Angus Drayton's masterful handling of the visual aesthetics that fold into the haunting and dreamy soundtrack, the incredibly likeable and engaging characters - Cashback evokes emotion and feeling somewhere between nostalgia and youthful hope. Something that many films try to do but few succeed at.

It is also one of those films that treats London in a way that every day Londoners see it rather than the tourist postcard version or antithetically seeking out its dark underbelly.

 For his next film The Broken Ellis goes in a completely different direction showing his versatility with an original and suspense laden tale of Doppelgangers in London. 


The Broken is an intelligent and dark tale not for everyone but it cannot be denied that it is a competent and original story, that doesn’t fall back on clichés as it unwraps a dark and moody mystery. Again Ellis exceeds at building a universe that allows a claustrophobic nightmare to come to life allowing his cast to shine.

The Broken stars; Lena Headey, Ulrich Thomsen, Melvil Poupaud and Richard Jenkins. 

A couple of months ago I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of Cashback and QA with the Cashback team courtesy of Tiger’s Undiscovered Treasure season


After wards I got chatting to the team and in between having my mind blown at just how cool they all are - I asked Sean what he was working on next and he let me know that he had been shooting Metro Manila in the Philippines. He didn't give me to much detail but the story concerns the relationship between two cash in transit guards that become embroiled in a heist situation in busy Manila.

Hearing Sean talk about I was engrossed and a crime drama set in the dangerous and fast paced city of Manila seen through Sean Ellis’s eyes had my expectations running high. Just look at the Metro Manila poster below and you can feel the claustrophobia and weight of the city weighing down on the guy.

Metro Manila Film Poster (Click to enlarge)

Seeking a better life, Oscar Ramirez and his family decide to move from the poverty stricken rice fields of the Northern Philippine mountain ranges and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila. Upon arriving in the big city, it isn't long before they fall foul to various city inhabitants whose manipulative ways are a daily part of city survival. Oscar lands a job as a driver for an armoured truck company and is befriended by Ong, his senior officer. It soon becomes apparent that Ong has been waiting for the arrival of someone just like Oscar for some time. A few simple acts of kindness from Ong place Oscar in his debt; a debt that leads to blackmail as Ong forces Oscar to help him in a robbery of the company they both work for. 

“Metro Manilla is very near the finishing line. It has taken a lot longer than originally planned (as it always does) and is expected to be completed by the end of the May”