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Review roundup: ‘Ang Hupa’ is Lav Diaz’s ‘most politically charged movie to date’

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/05/25/20190525-ang-hupa-co-quinzaine-des-realisateurs.jpg"/><figcaption>The cast of &quot;Ang Hupa,&quot; including Piolo Pascual and Shaina Magdayao, heads a Q&amp;A panel at the premiere of the movie at the Director&#x27;s Fortnight sidebar in Cannes, France. <em>Quinzaine des Realisateurs</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The first wave of reviews for Lav Diaz&#x27;s newest movie &quot;Ang Hupa&quot; (&quot;The Halt&quot;) has described it as the director&#x27;s most &quot;politically charged&quot; film yet.</p><p>The dystopian movie, which debuted at the Directors&#x27; Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival in France, features a near-future Philippines when &quot;millions have died to a flu epidemic and volcanic eruptions have cast the nation into permanent darkness.&quot; </p><p>The above synopsis is from a review written by <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-halt-cannes-review/5139877.article">Screen Daily critic Jonathan Romney</a>, who also shared that it stars Joel Lamangan as a &quot;paranoid, posturing dictator who claims to rule by divine right.&quot;</p><p>He declared that while &quot;Ang Hupa&quot; may not be an &quot;absolute high point in Lav Diaz&#x27;s prolific output, it certainly stands out in its ambition and, indeed, its political rage.&quot; </p><p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/halt-review-1212084?">Hollywood Reporter critic Clarence Tsui</a>, meanwhile, had a similar take, writing: &quot;The Halt ranks as Diaz&#x27;s most straightforward and politically charged film to date, with his script spelling out everything he wanted to say in the clearest of terms.&quot;</p><p>Tsui pointed out that in the movie, &quot;the president spews polished but delusional nonsense about his entitlement to power, officials dismiss &#x27;the discourse in truth,&#x27; while intellectuals lament the Philippines&#x27; transformation into a &#x27;nation of forgetting.&#x27;&quot; </p><p>He did criticize &quot;Ang Hupa&quot; for lacking the &quot;wonderful subtlety,&quot; &quot;the emotional power,&quot; and the &quot;strangeness&quot; of Diaz&#x27;s previous works, including last year&#x27;s &quot;Panahon ng Halimaw.&quot; </p><p>Still, he praised Diaz for his latest attempt to bring change to the Philippines: &quot;The fire still burns brightly within him, it seems.&quot; </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u2HMAw9hiBQ?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>&quot;Ang Hupa&quot; stars Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, Hazel Orencio, Pinky Amador, and Mara Lopez. </p>

<p>The first reviews for Lav Diaz's newest movie 'Ang Hupa' ('The Halt') have described it as the director's most 'politically charged' yet. </p>

The first reviews for Lav Diaz's newest movie 'Ang Hupa' ('The Halt') have described it as the director's most 'politically charged' yet.