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This entry by Leo Abaya.

Here are snippets from the themes of six movies. Can you identify the movies? (If you’ve been paying attention, three are easy.)

The Act of Killing (trailer) from Ariadna Fatjo-Vilas on Vimeo.

The ingenious documentary The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer “stars” members of the Indonesian death squads that killed a million people in the 1965 military coup. These war criminals have never been punished for their crimes; they are regarded as heroes. The filmmaker challenges them to reenact their murders in the styles of their favorite movies—crime thrillers, westerns, lavish musicals. “Disturbing” does not begin to describe the results. The Act of Killing is produced by Andre Singer, Errol Morris and Werner Herzog.

Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo, winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes, chronicles the relationship between the Lim family and their Filipino maid, Teresa. Angeli Bayani stars as Teresa, who forms a bond with her troublesome young charge, Jiale.

Korean star Jung-woo Ha stars in the box-office hit The Terror, Live as a disgraced TV news anchor who tries to get his old job back by broadcasting a live interview with a terrorist. The Terror, Live is directed by Kim Byeong-woo.

Lav Diaz’s Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History) stars Sid Lucero as Fabian, a law school dropout whose attempt to become more than just another useless intellectual has disastrous consequences. Archie Alemania plays Joaquin, the saintly man who goes to prison for Fabian’s crimes; Angeli Bayani is his wife Eliza, who carries on in the face of life’s crushing indifference. The screenplay is by Rody Vera; Moira L. is the producer.

Elegant and audacious, Norte is a dialogue with Philippine history and a meditation on The Big Questions: Life, Death, Good, Evil, Truth, Justice, History. Norte may have started out as a loose adaptation of Dostoevsky, but the finished film is pure Lav Diaz.

The Cinemanila 2013 line-up:
– Harmony Lessons (Kazakhstan | Germany | France) Emir Baigazin
– The Missing Picture (Cambodia) Rithy Panh
– In Bloom (Georgia) Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß
– Countdown (Thailand) Nattawut Poonpiriya
– Mekong Hotel (Thailand | UK) Apichatpong Weerasethakul
– What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (Indonesia) Mouly Surya
– The Act of Killing (Denmark | Norway | UK) Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, and anonymous co-directors
– Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Philippines) Lav Diaz
– The Terror, Live (South Korea) Kim Byeong-woo
– Moebius (South Korea) Ki-duk Kim
– Almayer’s Folly Hanyut (Malaysia) U-Wei Haji Saari
– Stepping On The Flying Glass (Indonesia) Eugene Panji
– Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses (Indonesia) Yosep Anggi Noen
– Karaoke Girl (Thailand|USA) Visra Vichit-Vadakan

The Cinemanila International Film Festival runs from December 18-22, 2013 at SM Aura Cinema Premiere, Taguig City. Visit the Cinemanila site for more information. We will post screening schedules and ticket prices as soon as they’re available.

Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan is the closing film at Cinemanila. It will screen on Sunday, 22 December, 6pm at SM Aura Premier Cinema. For reservations, please call +63(2)8085331. Norte will open in limited release next year.

Here are the earliest entries to our Tigerair Boracay and Palawan photo contest. To join the contest, read this.

Entry #1. Palawan. Taken by Gerry C. with a Canon 550D. “Our boat guide navigating through the cathedral-like stone entrance to the so-called “secret beach”.

Entry #2. Taken by Lloyd V. with an iPhone 4s. “It was around 8 in the morning of November 3, 2013 (days before Yolanda) when my family and I boarded a boat at the Port of Coron, Palawan. It was our first trip together after so many years. I took this photo while we heading for the first island on our island-hopping tour.”

Entry #3. Taken by Lloyd V. in November 2013 with an iPhone 4s. “This island was the first of the series of islands we visited in Coron. My family and I stayed on this island for thirty minutes, during which we snorkeled and got tangled amongst the seaweeds.”

Entry #4. El Nido, Palawan, June 2013. Taken by Gerry C. with a Canon 550D. “One of the sentinel-like stones jutting out of Bacuit Bay in El Nido, Palawan.”

Entry #5. Boracay, April 2008. Taken by Gerry C with a Canon Powershot. “Took this photo on my third morning in Boracay back in 2008. I wanted to join these men as they jogged along White Beach, but I was intimidated so I just took pictures instead.”

Entry #6. Taken by Jerlen C. with a Samsung Galaxy S4. “This photo was taken in Coron, Palawan at the Club Paradise Resort (May this year). It was my first time in Palawan.”

Keep sending your photos. The next set of finalists will be posted on Thursday.

This contest is sponsored by Tigerair Philippines. To find out more about Tigerair deals and promos, follow TigerAir Philippines on Facebook and Twitter.

Just because we love novels in which knights cleave their foes in twain, murderers are consumed with remorse/feel no remorse whatsoever, and child prodigies have nervous breakdowns, doesn’t mean we don’t love romantic novels. We love love stories, it’s just that most of the time we don’t want to be seen with them.

There are too many romantic stories ruined in the telling—drowned in schmaltz, pocked with embarrassing sex scenes (though we enjoy a good howler), overwrought, or so fluffy you forget what you’re reading even before you get to the end of the sentence. They would cause Jane Austen to forget her manners and smack the authors around till they swear never to write again.

Fortunately, there are exceptions.

The first page of Beginner’s Greek

Beginner’s Greek by former Time editor James Collins opens with a case of love at first sight, then proceeds to separate the would-be lovers and throw various obstacles in their path. Sounds like the plot of every other romcom, but the writing is so smart and insightful, it would be ungracious not to suspend your disbelief. Money is inextricable from the marriage plot, Collins goes on at some length about the hero’s job in an investment firm, but the passages on finance anchor the novel and make it seem real.

Our only complaint is the generic-looking cover with the tagline, “Could they have a second chance at love at first sight?” Yucch! Ignore.

From Enough About Love by Herve Le Tellier

This is how to write a novel about love: declare that you are tired of it.

From Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin

We almost did not buy this book because of its cover: generally when a book has a heart shape and champagne glasses on the cover, it is not a book we can admit to reading. Luckily we read the first paragraph and decided that we could not live without it. Happy All The Time introduced us to Laurie Colwin, one of our favorite authors. The plot is simple—boys meet girls, boys get girls, couplehood is somewhat perplexing, but there’s that title. Effortlessly charming and droll, HATT features an eccentric supporting cast, including a woman with harlequin glasses who quotes St. Teresa of Avila.

Good luck it, though. Our copy is older than many of you. If you find any Laurie Colwin titles in bookstores, let us know.