Kinatay is a Filipino drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza is a Filipino film director. He has directed nine films since 2005. He won the award for Best Director for his film Kinatay at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival...

. The film competed in the main competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

2009 Cannes Film Festival

The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Pixar's film Up would open the festival...

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Plot

A police academy student trying to make enough money to marry his girlfriend takes a lucrative job. It turns out that he actually joined a gang. During a night together, to his horror the gang abduct, rapes and kills a woman, cuts the body into pieces, and throws the pieces in various places out of the car. In the morning he politely asks his boss to allow him to go home. The boss understands that he has to get used to the practices, gives him some money, and lets him go.

Reception

American film director Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

 is a fan of the film and commended Mendoza in a personal letter, writing: "Your decission (sic) to never dramatize the murder, never indulge in movie suspense.... was bold, daring, and to me, the whole point of making the movie in the first place." On the other hand, film critic Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 has been one of the film's more notable detractors, writing: "Here is a film that forces me to apologize to Vincent Gallo

Vincent Gallo

Vincent Gallo is an Italian-American film director and actor. Though he has had minor roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies, including Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, did the music for and starred in; The Brown Bunny, which he also...

 for calling "The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny is a 2003 independent American art house film written, produced and directed by actor Vincent Gallo about a motorcycle racer on a cross-country drive who is haunted by memories of his former lover. The film had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival to boos and catcalls...

" the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

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Cast

• Mercedes Cabral
• Maria Isabel Lopez
• Coco Martin
  Coco Martin
  Rodel Luis Nacianceno , better known by his stage name, Coco Martin, is a critically acclaimed Gawad Urian Award-winning Filipino actor. He became famous for starring in many independent films, and was dubbed the Prince of Philippine Independent Films...
  
  
• John Chris Sacedor
• Lauren Novero
• John Regala

Awards

Kinatay won the Prix de la Mise en Scene

Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)

The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....

 - Best Director through Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza is a Filipino film director. He has directed nine films since 2005. He won the award for Best Director for his film Kinatay at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival...

 at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

2009 Cannes Film Festival

The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Pixar's film Up would open the festival...

.