VERDICT (2019)
2h 6min | Drama | Language: Tagalog, Filipino, English | Subtitles: English
SYNOPSIS
Abused and battered wife, Joy lives in Manila, with her six-year-old daughter Angel and her husband, Dante, a small-time criminal. As so often in the past, Dante comes home drunk at night and beats Joy brutally. This time, he also hurts Angel. Joy grabs her daughter and flees to the local police post to finally get him sent to jail. Justice, Joy learns, takes time at best and is impossible to get at worst. Not without reason, she feels that she and her daughter are increasingly under threat.
CAST & CREW
Stars - Max Eigenmann, Kristoffer King, Jordhen Suan
Director - Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Screenplay - Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Cinematography - Joshua A. Reyles
Music - Diwa de Leon
Producers - Brillante Ma Mendoza, Nicols Brigaud-Robert, Jean Christophe Simon, Dan Wechsler
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2019
Winner - Asia Pacific Screen Award, Best Performance by an Actress (Max Eigenmann)
Gawad Urian Awards 2020
Nominee - Gawad Urian Award, Best Supporting Actor (Kristoffer King)
Nominee - Best Editing, Diego Marx Dobles
Nominee - Best Cinematography, Joshua Reyles
Nominee - Best Actress, Max Eigenmann
Hainan International Film Festival 2019
Winner - NETPAC Award, Best Feature Film
Nominee - Golden Coconut, Best Feature Film
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2020
Nominee - FIPRESCI Prize, Best Foreign Language Film
Singapore International Film Festival 2019
Winner - Silver Screen Award, Best Performance - Asian Feature Film (Kristoffer King)
Nominee - Silver Screen Award, Best Asian Feature Film
Tokyo FILMeX 2019
Nominee - Grand Prize
Venice Film Festival 2019
Winner - Venice Horizons Award, Special Jury Prize
Nominee - Venice Horizons Award, Best Film
Young Critics Circle, Philippines 2020
Winner - YCC Award, Best First Feature (Raymund Ribay Gutierrez)
Winner - Best Achievement in Film Editing (Diego Marx Dobles)
Nominee - YCC Award, Best Film
Nominee - Best Performance by Individual or Ensemble in Leading or Supporting Role (Max Eigenmann and Kristoffer King)
Nominee - Best Screenplay (Raymund Ribay Gutierrez)
Nominee - Best Achievement in Cinematography and Visual Design
PRESS QUOTES
★★★★
"Empathy and urgency in convincing domestic abuse drama" THE GUARDIAN
★★★★
"Filled with strong performances... It is reminiscent of other recent understated female tragedies, such as Never Rarely Sometimes Always and The Assistant." LITTLE WHITE LIES
★★★★★
"Un relenting, urgent, mesmerizing, Verdict, hits its message home hard." BRITFLICKS
★★★★★
"Verdict is inescapable" THE MOVE WAFFLER
★★★★
"Social realism and court procedural combine in powerful Manila drama" THE ARTS DESK
★★★★
"A harrowing drama that's as much documentary as fiction" MORNING STAR
★★★★
"Riveting and Shocking" EVERY FILM
★★★★
"Writer-director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez's fascinating forensic look at the legal process in the Philippines also highlights an urgent global issue." SHADOWS ON THE WALL
★★★★
"Whether it brings about change I don’t know but the emotions it will engender reaffirms the power of cinema as a potent medium of social expression." MIB'S INSTANT HEADACHE
"An engrossing and sophisticated procedural with universal audience appeal... a gruelling Kafkaesque circus." VARIETY
"The subject matter is urgent as well as important." THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"A no-nonsense domestic abuse drama that whips along with the pace of a thriller." SCREEN DAILY
"Verdict is more than a film with a good cause. Its importance is multi-layered and being simply a very good film also contributes to it." ASIAN MOVIE PULSE
