Macho Dancer

Mr. Lino Brocka is a world class director and quite rare in Philippine cinema. His films are so unforgettable and filled with startling revealations that they would inhabit your mind and imagination for a very long time and Macho Dancer is one of them. I'm left to wonder about the insidious effects of that dirty trade on countless macho dancers in Manila; but it is well-founded that poverty could do terrible things to people. I consider this movie as a minor masterpiece because of its lack of really good editing yet despite of that it is simply mesmerizing and proudly recommended to anyone not afraid to view life's brutal realities.

I've been wanting to get this movie since reading a rather breathless review on Planet Out a couple of years ago.It's a better movie than I expected, but you should know it's not a gay love story. Our hero, Pol, played by Alan Paule, is determinedly hetero but turns to hustling to raise money for his impoverished family. To this end, he goes to Manila and becomes a male (macho) dancer in a sex club. You may make of that what you will, the film, is non-judgmental. Pol maintains a certain detachment from his chosen craft; the cover art for the CD is taken from the one scene in which he genuinely seems to enjoy being erotic with another guy and Pol's lovemaking scene with Bambi, a cute, sassy young female Philippino in the same situation, is the hottest scene in the movie.There's only one character in the film who appears to have homo-erotic tendencies, Noel, played by Daniel Fernando, and he ends up tragically. His was the more interesting and attractive character to me. There's only one gay kiss that isn't just for the sake of the show at the sex club and Pol is genuinely surprised that Noel would kiss him on the lips other than when they're on stage.There is a lot of simulated eroticism and near total male nudity, even a little total male nudity (one brief scene in which a bunch of the dancers are on stage masturbating - shot from across the room, not close up) and a lot of simulated sex acts. Pol is pretty good at undulating and gyrating in a g-string; Noel is even better.Maybe as much as a third of the movie consists of these scenes of male dancers, serving as backdrop for a morality tale involving Pol and Noel and Noel's sister in which the heavy is the police official who "protects" this aspect of Philippino society. To the extent the film is a commentary on social conditions which give rise to all of this prostitution, it paints a much direr picture of the young Philippino girls who are drawn into this trade than of the young men. I've read the film is a searing indictment of the corruption that existed under the Marcos and Aquino regimes. I lack the knowledge of Philippino society to judge this statement, but "The Comedians" with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor was a searing indictment of life in Haiti under Papa Doc and this film has nowhere near the power of that one.So much of the film is devoted to the scenes at the sex clubs it's difficult to believe the filmmaker was simply producing an indictment of political corruption but I'm not sure what else to make of it.The acting is better than I expected, as is the filmmaking, but this DVD was produced from a very old and scratchy copy of the film and is the worst visually I've ever seen.Planet Out is incapable of giving anything less than a breathless review to any film in which at least one malecharacter takes his shirt off but I give this film only 3 stars.

I fell in love with Macho Dancer the first time I saw it. The fact that it is in Tagalong with English Subtitles only enhanced the mystical quality of a group of gay men in a country I will probably never visit, living lives that may or may not be totally true. However enough short videos appear on youtube to make is seem likely that there is more truth to this movie than fiction. Yet it is not a documentary, it is a story that can touch one about all kinds of social issues.

Acting wise ,the majority of the actors were awful. A realistic portrayal of the sad and mostly abused men and women in the sex trade. Sadly,the majority of them will never be able to remove themselves. It is a bleak future where there is no escape.

The story is just about how male strippers work in the Philippines.

Like the later and much glossier MIDNIGHT DANCERS, MACHO DANCER depicts the lives of male prostitutes in Manilla; unlike MIDNIGHT DANCERS, however, it is considerably more gritty and disquieting. The story concerns Pol (Alan Paule), a young man in the Manillian provinces who has drifted into prostitution with an American G.I. in order to help support his impoverished family. When his patron finishes his tour of duty, Pol's friend Greg (Bobby Sano) urges him to try his luck in Manilla.Once in Manilla, Pol becomes a "Macho Dancer," working as a preformer and prostitute at a police protected club in the tourist belt--and becomes friends with fellow club worker Noel (Daniel Fernando) and upscale call-girl Bambi (Jacklyn Jose.) Although we realize they are motivated by poverty and lack of other skills (time and again the characters simply state "I was hungry"), the film paints itself in extremely tantalizing, erotic colors--and much more explicitly so than MIDNIGHT DANCERS--but as the story progresses the eroticism of the film seques into an extremely dark story of the foundations of the sex-trade: youth, poverty, hunger, and a corrupt police and economic system that preys on all three. By the film's conclusion one feels extremely guilty for having, perhaps, salivated a bit over the boys and girls--for it is precisely that reaction that creates the marketplace which so brutally preys upon them.The youthful cast members are extraordinarly beautiful, casual with their nudity and behavior before the cameras, and surprisingly talented in their ability to convey both the beauty that makes them so sensual and the dark, dangerous world through which they scramble. The entire cast is remarkable, and Jacklyn Jose is a standout--an extraordinary beauty and remarkably gifted actress. Although MACHO DANCER hooks its audience with titilating eroticism, it has a sharp jab that prevents that same audience from romanticizing prostitution in any way. All the more disquieting for it display of beautiful youth, after seeing MACHO DANCER it becomes impossible for one to think of prostitution as a "victimless crime." Recommended.

Es una visión pesimista de los bajos fondos de la ciudad de Manila. La película se deja ver bastante bien.

Very good.