Philippines

In Don Gerardo Frasco’s Waves, the notion of a peaceful island spirals into a cacophony of frustration and despair when two old friends try to rekindle their love for one another. With every scene, new challenges surface for our main characters to confront within the confines of their crumbling haven. The triumph of Waves is Frasco’s ability to enrapture the trouble that exists in paradise. Sure, its Philippine environments look beautiful, but when propped up against the anguish of the story’s lies and mistrust, they take on the feel of an awkward, unreachable dream for our disillusioned secret lovers.

From What is Before, the latest epic from Filipino slow-cinema auteur Lav Diaz, examines a major fault line in his country’s history. Chronicling the terminal decline of a remote coastal barrio, which has become unknowingly embroiled in the ensuing apocalypse sweeping across the Philippines, it culminates in Ferdinand Marcos’s 1972 declaration of martial law and the beginning of his brutal kleptocracy. A voiceover in the film’s closing lines describes the preceding five-and-a-half hours as “the memory of a cataclysm”, marking a significant break with even the most recent past. From What is Before might not have the sheer force of Diaz’s last outing, the Crime and Punishment-inspired Norte: The End of History, but it is a more accomplished film overall, utilising every inch of its formidable length to construct a haunting elegy for times past.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water Preview Airs Wednesdays at 8pm (ET) on CBS Premieres September 18 Long-time Survivor fans yearn for the days when a fresh group of new castaways arrived each season to play the game. Those days are over. Only two of the last seven seasons (Nicaragua and One World) have not included returning …