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Call Me Alma

Name: Call Me Alma
Director: Mac Alejandre
Released: 2023
Duration: 90 min

Representation Score

6.5/10

Good

2023

Director

Mac Alejandre

Runtime

90 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Call Me Alma succeeds as a character study focusing on women's ability to act within systemic constraints. It avoids traditional moralizing, emphasizing the survival strategies and subjective truths of its female protagonists. By centering those at the socio-economic margins, the film disrupts expectations of domestic stability. The film's strength lies in its portrayal of women's autonomy and calculated choices within stigmatized professions. It provides a localized, non-Western perspective rooted in Filipino socio-economic realities and challenges traditional moral and religious stigmas.

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Category Breakdown

Does Call Me Alma have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on heterosexual relationships and does not include any characters with non-cisgender identities. There is no evidence of queer characters or dynamics.

How does Call Me Alma portray gender?

Good

The film highlights women's roles and choices, showing Alma as a woman making calculated decisions rather than being passive. It emphasizes the psychological journeys of women rather than male authority.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Call Me Alma?

Excellent

The film offers a perspective centered on Filipino culture, challenging Anglo-centric narratives. It explores the socio-economic realities and class-based experiences of the urban poor in a nuanced way.

How does Call Me Alma represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The story questions traditional morality and religious stigmas by presenting sex work as a means to achieve personal goals. It also redefines the traditional family unit through a traumatic maternal bond.

Does Call Me Alma include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no visible or invisible disabilities mentioned as central to the character arcs. No evidence of neurodivergence or physical disability is present in the narrative.

Present on Screen

Highlights women's autonomy and calculated choices within stigmatized professions.
Provides a localized, non-Western perspective rooted in Filipino socio-economic realities.
Challenges traditional moral and religious stigmas regarding sex work and family structures.

Limited or Absent

Lacks visible LGBTQ+ representation or non-cisgender identities.
No characters navigate disability or neurodivergence.

Official Synopsis

Alma, Azi Acosta, is a high-end bar girl. She has decided that prostitution is her profession, her life, her means to achieve her dreams and her happiness. She caters to all men who can afford her price. But she favors two men: a rich lawyer and a bank executive whom she calls Tiger Joe and Kabayo respectively. Another regular customer is a student who has professed his undying love for her. Alma's routine life is disturbed when Sheila, Jaclyn Jose, an aging street prostitute, introduces herself to Alma as her mother who sold her to strangers after birth. This meeting will open the door to Alma's past that she has refused to confront. A long-lost ailing mother, the search for a father, and the truths of a painful past will test the values of these two women who have become victims of poverty and men. In the end, Alma and Sheila will make choices that will define them not only as individuals but as women.

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