Apocalypse Child

Fully embracing the unbearable lightness of surfing and idling his days away on the sun-drenched beaches of Baler (the heart of the Philippines’ surf culture, where Apocalypse Now was shot), Ford (Sid Lucero) enjoys an almost cloudless existence and coasts along in the arms of his pretty runaway girlfriend (Annicka Dolonius), unburdened by the dustups of modern existence, or any deeper meaning for that matter. But there is a restlessness about him that is about to unravel. Named after Francis Ford Coppola, the man may or may not be the illegitimate son of the Hollywood director. As he fumbles for answers and reconnects with an old friend, an anxious love triangle—or rather love hexagon—forms and flounders, against a background of seas and skies so blue that they emblazon the screen. Mario Cornejo’s relationship drama is dazzling, not least when its protagonists ride the waves or into each other, or tells of souls opened up to raw experience, flirting and fighting in flurries of razor-sharp dialogue reminiscent of the golden age of 1990s American indie cinema.