Slingshot (Tirador) (2010)

78% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
64% of users liked it
(178 ratings)

One of the most prolific and acclaimed directors of the Philippine New Wave, Brillante Mendoza has created another virtuoso exploration of the volatile Manila slums. The camerawork in this verité portrait of petty thieves and hustlers is fluid, sweeping, and seemingly untethered, as frantic as the… More One of the most prolific and acclaimed directors of the Philippine New Wave, Brillante Mendoza has created another virtuoso exploration of the volatile Manila slums. The camerawork in this verité portrait of petty thieves and hustlers is fluid, sweeping, and seemingly untethered, as frantic as the overcrowded shacks and ditches it captures. Mendoza (2009 Cannes Winner, Best Director for "Kinatay") uses this hybrid fiction essay not to judge the questionable acts of his fringe-dwelling characters, but to subtly implicate political and religious institutions as a source of their problems.-- (C) Ignatius Films

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Brillante Mendoza
Written By: Ralston Jover
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Jul 23, 2010 Limited
Studio: Centerstage Productions

Critic Reviews

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
The mood of scrambling desperation can be exhausting, but the filmmaking is never less than exhilarating.
Andrew Schenker, Village Voice
It's all in good voyeuristic fun, even if Tirador's economic (and political/religious) critique plays a tad crudely.
Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice
With Mendoza averaging two features a year, if you don't like what you see now, just wait a few months.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
If you'd like to get a load of what life is like in the slums of the Philippines, then you ought to check out this intimate peek at the intractable state of Third World poverty.
Kam Williams, Sly Fox
Hats off to Mendoza for delivering this intimate peek at the intractable state of Third World poverty.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A brilliant study of slum life in Manila that is close in spirit, if not artistic accomplishment, with Bunuel's "Los Olvidados".
John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
Mendoza's means of pricking the conscience of society is to show how the sacred and the profane intermingle rather than how they diverge.
Simon Abrams, New York Press
With its gritty but gorgeous visual style, Slingshot confirms Mendoza's status as a provocateur with talent and ambition to burn.
Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York
One can maintain the energy and patience for donnybrooks and general insanity only so long before craving a grounding through line.

Read all 9 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Ivan D

A visceral portrait of the urban poor and the political hypocrisy in the Philippines, told through a series of vignettes masterfully shot by Brillante Mendoza. The second half is very slow compared to the fast-paced, and comic-natured first. Brocka inspirations scattered throughout,… More
A visceral portrait of the urban poor and the political hypocrisy in the Philippines, told through a series of vignettes masterfully shot by Brillante Mendoza. The second half is very slow compared to the fast-paced, and comic-natured first. Brocka inspirations scattered throughout, including the musical score.

Cast

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Slingshot (Tirador) (2010)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Ivan D

Cast

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