Review: Power and class collide on the golf course in the sly satire 'Filipiana'

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Set us as preferred It’s no exaggeration to say that every carefully crafted image in Rafael Manuel’s stunning debut feature “Filipiñana” is like an exclusive, disturbing world unto itself, telling its own story.At the same time, each frame builds upon the last to create a gripping, caustically funny narrative about patriarchy, disempowerment and compliance.

In other words, everything a day at a golf resort should bring to mind.Before Manuel escorts us into the lavish links getaway that is his central metaphor for a rapidly changing Philippines, we’re in a bus — full of middle-aged, white-clad tourists — that cuts through a sweltering central Manila where parched citizens scrabble for water.Cut to our beatific destination, where vast private tracts of perfectly manicured green are getting plenty of water, busy sprinklers in rhythmic harmony.

That applies to the uniformed resort staff, too, as they prepare, like choreographed musical extras, for a day serving wealthy men’s recreational needs.With what seems like little embellishment to real locations (including a genuine culture of female-only caddies sporting bright colors), the movie captures a languid, top-down strangeness.This could be sci-fi, fantasy or an adult cartoon.

But it also suggests that if golf resorts didn’t already exist, Dr.Seuss or Jacques Tati might have had to invent them.

Movies From a new “Resident Evil” reboot from the director of “Weapons” to Oscar contenders starring Mikey Madison and Tom Cruise, here are the movies we’ll be at this fall.Early on, we meet the characters who will ground us in this social satire’s absurd environment: 17-year-old Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto), a driving range “tee girl” — look cute, set up ball, don’t get hit — whose spare time is spent exploring the grounds like a waif in an alien w...