Movie

Curacha: The Restless Woman

1998 · 141 min

A grimy, mournful plunge into nightlife sleaze that lingers on damaged people with bleak tenderness and a faint sliver of hope.

Directed by: Chito S. Roño
Genres: Drama
Starring: Rosanna Roces, Jaclyn Jose, Ruby Moreno

Overview: Curacha, a torera (live sex performer), finds herself trapped in an anomalous game of association between sex, life and death, and its political equivalent of sleaze, subservicence and power in drug-addled world. Every night, she sets off to join her fellow toreras for a midnight show of fun and kitschy live sex act. In one tuning point of her life, she bumps into a long-lost friend, Myrna, a former torera, who seems to have a lost grip on life. Curacha makes it her personal mission to save Myrna as she does some soul-searching herself. In the end, we see traces of hope glimmering somewhere, somehow, in a manner that escapes the restless Curacha.

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

Rent or buy in the UK

Amazon Video

More options Data from JustWatch

Directed by: Chito S. Roño
Genres: Drama
Starring: Rosanna Roces, Jaclyn Jose, Ruby Moreno

In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: bleakstrength 3 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 2 of 3
cynicalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: survival
isolation
addiction
corruption
friendship
Places: big city
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: nonlinear
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language strong
Violence mild
Sex strong

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	2
Horror	2
Humour	2
Realism	8
Romance	2
Tension	5
Darkness	8
Complexity	7
Emotional weight	8

Titles like Curacha: The Restless Woman

Movie

Manila by Night

1980

A sprawling, immersive descent into nocturnal city life, weaving multiple lives into a haunting portrait of desperation and resilience.

Same writer: Ricky Lee · Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation · nonlinear

Also: Same writer: Ricky Lee
Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 150 min

Details

Manila by NightHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Let Me Fall

2018

A raw, emotionally draining plunge into addiction and lost youth, told with unflinching honesty and a haunting sense of regret.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about isolation and addiction · nonlinear

Via: bleak
melancholic
isolation
addiction
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 138 min

Details

Let Me FallHidden from your suggestions.

Short film

Hure

1983

A cold, grimy plunge into one man's night on the street, bleak and claustrophobic, leaving a lingering sense of futility.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 14 min

Details

HureHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Die at 20

1984

A grim, slow descent into desperation that lingers uncomfortably long after it ends.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 77 min

Details

Die at 20Hidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Suzie Heartless

2009

A grim, fragmented plunge into a young life stripped of comfort, unfolding in unsettling pieces that linger like a bruise.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation · nonlinear

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 89 min

Details

Suzie HeartlessHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Live Show

2001

A grim, unflinching plunge into desperation, watching it feels like bearing witness to lives stripped bare by poverty and exploitation.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 110 min

Details

Live ShowHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Cat Sticks

2019

A slow, rain-soaked descent into craving and despair that feels like a long, restless night you can't shake.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation · nonlinear

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 94 min

Details

Cat SticksHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Tales of Ordinary Madness

1981

A grimy, boozy drift through dive bars and bad decisions, beautiful and sad, leaving a lingering ache.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about isolation and addiction

Via: bleak
melancholic
isolation
addiction
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 101 min

Details

Tales of Ordinary MadnessHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Requiem for a Dream

2000

A relentless, harrowing descent into addiction and delusion, visually and sonically assaultive, leaving you drained and haunted.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation · nonlinear

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 102 min

Details

Requiem for a DreamHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Lives

1984

A slow, grim immersion into a couple's nocturnal drug haze, offering little light and demanding patience.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 102 min

Details

LivesHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Sauvage

2018

A raw, intimate plunge into a young man's lonely search for tenderness, carried by a feral, vulnerable performance.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 97 min

Details

SauvageHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Porno

2013

A slow, sombre drift through lonely lives in a hard city, intimate and quietly despairing.

Bleak, melancholic, slow-burn · about survival and isolation · nonlinear

Via: bleak
melancholic
survival
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 88 min

Details

PornoHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy

Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres: drama
Directed by: Chito S. Roño
Written by: Ricky Lee
Starring: Rosanna Roces, Jaclyn Jose, Ruby Moreno, Ara Mina, Lucita Soriano, Maureen Mauricio, Mike Magat, Dick Israel
Cinematography: Charlie Peralta
Runtime: 141 min
Country: Philippines
Languages: Tagalog

TMDB IMDb Letterboxd Wikidata

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.

Curacha: The Restless Woman

How it feels

More like this

Titles like Curacha: The Restless Woman

Where to watch in the UK

Details