Moonglow – written, produced, directed by, and starring Isabel Sandoval – takes us into the criminal underworld of 1970’s Manila as we follow the life of a police officer battling the corruption of the city and the pull of her past as an old lover re-emerges.
One of the major selling points of this film is its top-tier cinematography, and there are two main worlds we explore over the course of the story’s 120-minute runtime:
Mostly, we’re following Dahlia (Sandoval) and her ex-lover Charlie (Arjo Atayde) through the gritty, dilapidated streets of 1979 Manila as they explore the crime-ridden underworld to answer questions about a crime Dahlia already has the answers to.
Visually, this city is beautiful. The locations and set design make the world feel lived-in, and for the DOP-inclined, the compositional choices showcase a gorgeous sprawling and layered landscape after-dark that are just begging for the comment “wow, nice frame!”. That, combined with rich, saturated lighting choices (shoutout gaffers), gives us a world that feels very reminiscent of Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player (2025) – a big complement in my books.
We also slowly uncover the relationship between our two protagonists in flashbacks from twelve years prior, and this warm nostalgic haziness gives a great visual contrast to the cold reality of the streets and buildings we spend most of our time exploring.
But the film definitely isn’t just for visuals, and the unpacking of this relationship between Dahlia and Charlie gives space for weighty, tender moments, not least driven by the strong performances of Sandoval and Atayde that allow us to share in the heavy silence of their reminiscing.
Unfortunately though, the film isn’t without its criticisms.
Despite the gorgeous visuals, pacing issues in the second act don’t give us space to get fully absorbed in the richness of the world, and – made worse by a lack of setup for the energy of the third act – we’re left with questions about how invested we should really feel by the dramatic climax.
This especially feels like a bit of a letdown, as we desperately want to feel engaged in such a beautifully-crafted environment, but it’s a struggle to feel the weight of the stakes in a world that seems like it’s sometimes being skipped over.
However, even with some of these disappointments, Moonglow is truly a solid addition to the indie neo-noir genre. For all its plot-based shortcomings, it genuinely goes a considerable way to accounting for them with some truly stellar performances and visuals that’ll leave you with some heartache and plenty of new mood board images, still very much making it worthy of a big-screen viewing.
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