A fan edit of late actress Cherie Gil’s lesbian character during her younger years is making rounds online.
This brought not only fanfare and longing for the late actress, but also a rediscovery of a classic and controversial movie “Manila By Night”.
“Soft butch Cherie Gil isn’t real, she can’t hurt you”
Soft butch Cherie Gil: pic.twitter.com/zfYD49G6ZV— Apa (@apaagbayani) July 5, 2024
A repost of an original upload on X (formerly Twitter) has garnered over 184,000 views, 4,400 likes, and numerous quote replies about the Cherie’s unexpected and striking portrayal of a gay character.
“Cherie Gil was way too awesome, god rest her soul fr fr,” a X user responded to the Tweet.
“That’s my boyfriend pls look away,” said another X user.
“Time to bring back butches in cinema again,” wrote one Pinoy.
“😮 I have to see this movie,” posted another Pinoy X user.
The 1980 film was previously banned for export by the administration of late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. for its “unsavory” depictions of Manila.
Several scenes of the movie were ordered cut out, along with the use of “Manila” in its title, thus the initial renaming to “City After Dark”.
It was only after the 1986 People Power Revolution that the movie was uncensored.
Directed by Ishmael Bernal, the same director who brought to life other classics like “Himala”, “Relasyon”, and “Nunal Sa Tubig” — “Manila By Night” was critically acclaimed and won several Gawad Urian awards.
In the film, Cherie plays the role of Kano, a queer drug pusher meshed within the complicated lives of Bea (Rio Locsin), Baby (Lorna Tolentino), Pebrero (Orestes Ojeda), Manay (Bernardo Bernardo) and Ade (Alma Moreno), among others in underworld Manila.
Within the social realist interwoven tales of prostitution, abuse and adultery under the overarching theme of survival and tragedy, Kano ruminates about the search for her true love before ultimately meeting her own fate.
The queer storylines (Kano’s, Pebrero’s, and Manay’s) were used in text in studies of early media representation years later in the likes of Joel David’s “Manila By Night: A Queer Film Classic”.
The two-and-a-half hour film is streaming for free on Regal Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
It was also restored in 4K by the Philippine Film Archive.
