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‘Filipiñana’ is not your average ‘eat-the-rich’ tale

Jorrybell Agoto in Filipiñana.
Kino Lorber
Jorrybell Agoto in Filipiñana.

Are you tired of the same eat-the-rich narratives churned out by Hollywood? There is a great new film Filipiñana offering a new take about the inner-workings of a country club in the Philippines. It’s both beautiful to look at and an emotional gut-punch. From director Rafael Manuel, this film kind of feels like if Wes Anderson made an explicitly anti-colonialist satire.

If you want a few more stylish and biting films, check out these episodes: 

‘Is God Is’ interrogates misogyny in a vivid, scathing revenge tale

‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ shows off Rose Byrne’s dramatic chops

Keke Palmer steals the (fashion) scene in ‘I Love Boosters’

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Aisha Harris is a host of Pop Culture Happy Hour.

From 2012 to 2018, Harris covered culture for Slate Magazine as a staff writer, editor and the host of the film and TV podcast Represent, where she wrote about everything from the history of self-care to Dolly Parton's (formerly Dixie) Stampede and interviewed creators like Barry Jenkins and Greta Gerwig. She joined The New York Times in 2018 as the assistant TV editor on the Culture Desk, producing a variety of pieces, including a feature Q&A with the Exonerated Five and a deep dive into the emotional climax of the Pixar movie Coco. And in 2019, she moved to the Opinion Desk in the role of culture editor, where she wrote or edited a variety of pieces at the intersection of the arts, society and politics.

Born and raised in Connecticut, she earned her bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University and her master's degree in cinema studies from New York University.

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