Peping, a criminology student, is recruited by his schoolmate, Abyong, to work as a part-time errand boy for a local syndicate that collects protection fees from various businesses in Manila. Abyong contacts Peping to join a “special project” that pays more than normal…

Violence thrums throughout this murderous, roaming nocturne, which won Filipino New Wave auteur Brillante Mendoza Best Director at Cannes. Roger Ebert declared it the worst film ever nominated for the Palme d’Or—others, meanwhile, were entranced by its extreme and experimental audacity.