VIOLATOR

CANADIAN PREMIERE

 Manila, the present day. The city is choked by oppressive heat. A storm is coming. They say it will be a deluge. Destructive. Some even say it maybe be the end times. At the same time, all kinds of strange things are happening. People are disappearing, suicides are increasing and ghosts are appearing. Amidst all the chaos, in a small neighbourhood police station, three cops have just arrested a child who appears to be the devil incarnate.

Don’t be fooled. In Violator, there are no rapes, no killer robots from the future. This is no pornographic Filipino Terminator. It is, in fact, a stunning atmospheric piece about evil, a disturbingly psychotic work at the crossroads of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Japanese ghosts. It is, above all, a fine discovery that proves once again that Filipino cinema is in the midst of a powerful artistic renaissance (this year alone there are Ruined Heart... and Shadow Behind the Moon). Lastly, it is worth noting that this is the first film by an influential film critic who has emerged as a new talent to be watched very closely. − Julien Fonfrède