a journey through the hidden gems of Asia-Pacific queer cinema • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

“My film Boy was an homage to Macho Dancer,” says Solito. “I love Lino Brocka’s film, he has the queer eye. The way he celebrates men’s bodies in the dancing, the way the stripper moves in the male stripper movies.”

He adds, “I saw this as a young queer boy. When you watch it, you realize your sexuality, because he celebrates it beautifully, that’s what influenced me, especially when I did Boy.” Regarding Manila by Night, he says, “Ishmael Bernal is like the next batch with Leo Brocka. They call it the second Golden Age for Philippine cinema, when Leo and Ishmael came along,” explains Solito.

Linus retrospectively summarizes the film’s importance on : “Ishmael Bernal managed to capture the temptations, immoralities, filthiness, and difficulties of night-time Manila during the Marcos era.”

Next on the list, a tortured romance in Argentina in Happy Together. “One thing I love about Wong Kar-Wai’s film [is that] it was so, so stylish,” Solito says. “I was in awe that he won in Cannes. I remember the boyfriend of my actor said, ‘One day, you’ll make it there,’ and it happened—my film Busong went to the Director’s Fortnight.”

“It was nice that the two hot boys were just in love and I realized my last relationship was like that,” he continues. “It was fiery, and they were fighting, and then there was violence. I still have scratches.”