With their raw sexuality and hard-hitting politics, the “Macho Dancer” films, begun by Lino Brocka before his death and continued now by Mel Chionglo, are a unique force within this strong and nourishing national cinema. Because their generic elements are so intrinsically political — young, beautiful provincial boys are recruited to dance and sell themselves to foreign sex tourists and well-off locals — Chionglo is able to explicitly explore hot-button issues that impact Filipino society as a whole.

Harry is a young man from Olongapo, the former site of America’s largest military base in Southeast Asia, and a place that still arouses much anger in the country. Like many locals, he is the product of an American soldier and a Filipina; in his case, his abusive father pimped his mother and then young Harry, until the young man had enough and ran away from home. With his best friend James, they head to Manila where they soon find work as macho dancers, writhing and gyrating to current pop music, an occupation specific to the city’s gay clubs. But Harry harbours a hatred within; he wants to learn enough about life to be able to avenge his mother’s death by killing his father.

As the film progresses, Harry comes to learn that he owes it to his newfound family not to resort to violence. When he meets his father, a decrepit old man dying of AIDS, he makes a surprising and empowering decision.