Ronda

Verdict: Value for Money

Pinoy Rebyu Score: 3.13 (19 ratings)

Genre: Drama

Director: Nick Olanka

Writers: Adolfo Alix, Jr., Jerome Zamora, Nick Olanka

Cast: Ai-ai delas Alas, Perla Bautista, Bernardo Bernardo, Menggie Cobarrubias, Carlo Aquino, Carlos Morales, Cogie Domingo, Moi Bien, DM Sevilla and Julian Trono, Cesar Montano, Angeli Bayani

Synopsis: A policewoman roams the city of Manila to fulfill her duties as a police patrol and to look for her lost son.

MTRCB rating: R-13

Running time: 80 mins

Trailer: 

Reviews:

5.0         Renelson Morelos (Ramblings of a Film Urchin)

“Everything just unfolds in a slow-burn, no-frills fashion, with the camera (superbly lensed by Albert Banzon, who frequently collaborates with Adolf Alix, Jr., one of the script’s co-writers) acting as a dispassionate observer. Ronda runs for just a mere 80 minutes, but it may require a good deal of patience from the viewers, with its narrative technique and pace, just like some works from the Romanian New Wave.” (Read full review)

4.0         Jonell Estillore (Film Police)

“What appears at first as an almost tedious character study—teeming with long shots and drowned in an equal share of social commentary and quietness—stands out as a relatable tale of lost desires behind one’s uniform.” (Read full review)

4.0         Macky Macarayan (The FilmSoc Report)

“The true power of Ronda comes from the story of a woman who has so much power in her arsenal, but even so there are some things she has no control of. Ai Ai De Las Alas renders a nuanced, stripped down performance of an ordinary cop and gives her an extraordinary focus by letting us peer into Arroyo’s psyche in moments of silence.” (Read full review)

3.5        Jenilee Chuaunsu (PEP)

“Ronda manages to be both relatable and mysterious at the same time. It has all the ingredients of a well-made film, and it is definitely worth watching.” (Read full review)

3.5         John Tawasil (Present Confusion)

“Ronda may be a bit slow, but it is far from boring. The plot does drive us forward like any good mystery should. Ultimately, Ronda as a film is an effective one, giving us a (tantalizingly small) slice of life gone slowly out of balance.” (Read full review)

3.5         Dicot Alvarado (Letterboxd)

“At its very best, it’s pretty engaging, and seems to be a commentary on the dismalness of the city and the people within it. However, much of the material presented is pretty unstable and can range from being too obvious to being too ambiguous.” (Read full review)

3.0         Philbert Dy (Click the City)

“Ronda ends on the verge of telling a story. The whole film feels like a first act, simply establishing the routine of the main character and defining her place in the world. It’s kind of compelling as a mood piece, but the ending suggests a much more interesting story yet to be told.” (Read full review)

3.0         Zig Marasigan (Rappler)

“By choosing to focus solely on Arroyo, it becomes particularly strange when the film’s most pivotal moment is laid on the lap of her son. In the end, despite spending the entire film with Arroyo, there’s very gain to little gain from the short-lived patrol with her.” (Read full review)

3.0         Jessica Zafra (InterAksyon)

“Morales gives a perfectly modulated performance: he doesn’t try to have a moment, but he holds the screen in a long telephone conversation which, since we don’t hear the other party, is really a monologue.” (Read full review)

3.0         Rob San Miguel (Brun Philippines)

“Ai Ai de las Alas delivers a subtle dramatic performance, and so proving that she is more than just a box office comedienne.” (Read full review)

3.0         Manuel Pangaruy (Tagailog Special Presents)

“May ilang shade ng pagka-noir ng City After Dark pero hindi ito masyadong nag-push pagdating sa mga makukulay na karakter. Gets ko rin ‘yong gustong iparating na maraming pulis ang nasasakripisyo ang kalidad ng relasyon nito sa pamilya dahil sa serbisyo. Gusto ko si Ai-Ai delas Alas dito lalo na sa effort n’ya to underact.” (Read full review)

3.0         Carl Papa (Whatever Carl)

“I loved the overall film of the film. The glacial pace. The scant dialogue. The scant music. If I do not know who’s the filmmaker behind it I would think that Adolf Alix made it, and he did.” (Read full review)

3.0         Genesis Valencia (The G Spot)

“The script’s highlights are probably the lengthy dialogues delivered in the background, which are unfailingly funny in spite of the film’s more dismal theme.  The cinematography by Albert Banzon is equally gritty, featuring the dank streets of Manila at night, complete with street children, robbers, and prostitutes.” (Read full review)

3.0         Irvin Malcolm Contreras (Letterboxd)

“Ai-Ai De Las Alas is actually an excellent dramatic actress even though she’s more known as a broad comedienne. This film lets her stretch her dramatic chops and she gives an outstanding, yet also subtle performance as a police officer going about her usual duties all the while worrying where her son was.” (Read full review)

3.0         Gelo dela Cruz (More Than Your Five Senses)

“As the protagonist circles the streets of Manila, the film introduces pertinent issues of the society such as the good cop-bad cop dilemma, the arrest of the Arroyo’s, machismo of policemen, class struggle, etc. However, it came to a point that it was too much as it tries to present many things in a single plate.” (Read full review)

2.5         Fred Hawson (ABS-CBN News)

“The main selling point of Ronda is Ai-Ai de las Alas’ rare performance in a no-frills, unglamorous and unfunny role.  Otherwise, this film could well have been two hours of just impatiently waiting for the answer of what Leo was up to for the past two nights.” (Read full review)

2.5         Emil Hofilena (Cinemil Movie Reviews)

“Olanka plays the arthouse card a bit too much. A lot of this movie is very, very slow-paced. At a certain point I didn’t feel the need for it to be slow-paced. I kinda get that a lot of this movie is about the boredom of routine life. I got that point early on but then the movie just kept being slow-paced. For me it came off as just trying to kill time. The slow pace did a disservice to the themes that this movie is trying to juggle. This movie never actually went in-depth into any of them. The themes just ended up getting lost in the boredom.” (Watch video review)

2.0         Nicol Latayan (Tit for Tat)

“In the end, when the film finally decided to move the story forward, it suddenly stopped. Whether these two stories are related nor if they’re bound to be connected in the first place, I really have no idea which leads me to believe that the film would have benefited from a balance of some sort in order to either make the first part more solid or the latter part more memorable — neither of which the film achieved to do.” (Read full review)

2.0         Richard Bolisay (Lilok Pelikula)

“Ronda, as it is, bares too much skin but has nothing much to show underneath. Rather than running and reaching many areas, it is just content jogging in place.” (Read full review)