A One Mann’s Movies review of “Moonglow”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 3.5*, NR).
A neo-noire set in Manila? The concept had me intrigued from the start and I was not disappointed by Moonglow: a film written by, directed by and starring Isabel Sandoval. (I’m not sure if she “write the theme tune, sing the theme tune” to quote ‘Dennis Waterman’ from Little Britain, but I’m sure she would have if she could have!)
It’s really pretty good and I enjoyed this one a lot, despite its flaws.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
It’s Manila in 1979, “a decade into martial law”. When Dahlia commits a high-profile robbery, the last person she expected to be investigating her is Charlie, an ex-lover from more than a decade ago. Years later, their connection still sparks. But what will happen when Charlie learns the truth?
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 12A based on some limited strong language and some moderate violence.)
Talent:
Starring: Isabel Sandoval, Arjo Atayde, Dennis Marasigan.
Directed by: Isabel Sandoval.
Written by: Isabel Sandoval.
Running Time: 1h 48m.
Review:
Positives:
- The first thing I really liked about this one is that it is just dripping in noir. The early almost black and white shot of Dahlia in a rain drenched street, standing by a phone, with a moody saxophone playing and a dry voiceover is so noire that I expected Humphrey Bogart in a trench-coat to step out from the shadows.
- Early in the plot, we discover that the safe-cracking Dahlia has stolen from the police chief Bernal (Dennis Marasigan), who is also her immediate boss! The boss thinks its an inside job within his force and suspects the heavily-in-debt gambler Aranza (acting credit not yet on IMDB). Once she herself is assigned to the case with her ex-lover and the police-chief’s nephew Charlie (Arjo Atayde), I was properly invested in the story and wondering how the twisted web was going to unwind.
- In my review of My Wife Cries I commented on how infuriating it was to have shots that went on for waaaaaaaaaaay longer than felt natural, with virtually every shot in the film being like that! Here was a case in point where that approach was used properly. It was just one shot in the film. It was a cigarette in an ash-tray. And it was done to utter perfection.
- The language used in the film is really interesting. I assume, given that this is Manila, that most of the language spoken is Tagalog. But in every other sentence, the characters will suddenly switch into English. And this switching seemed to be pretty random. It made me wonder if this was something done for the film or whether this was genuinely the way that residents of Manila conversed.
Negatives:
- The mistakes that Dahlia makes in the course of the film seem so basic that they rather devalued the effect. “Do you want to get caught” Charlie says in exasperation to Dahlia at one point. The script would have been much better served if Charlie had had to reach more for the truth.
- The ending felt disappointingly weak compared to what we had seen up to that point. It lacked tension and a ‘gunshot’, that felt like it was supposed to be a surprise, was totally predictable.
- At one point we see a corpse in the morgue. We hadn’t seen enough of that character for me to recognise who it was. (The dialogue explains it to us a bit later though).
- The use of the film’s title about two-thirds of the way through the middle reel was unnecessary and off-putting. The film didn’t need that random interruption.
Summary Thoughts:
Despite its flaws, this is a film that Isabel Sandoval should be justly proud of. It is one that I enjoyed a lot.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E17Gf7LmZqw.
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