Apocalypse Child

Director Mario Cornejo's languorous Filipino drama may remind viewers with long memories of Daniel Petrie's 1976 sleeper Lifeguard, with its sexy, sunny aquatic milieu matched to a thoughtful plot about a beach-bum type who never quite grew up. In the seaside town of Baler in the Philippines—best known as a shooting location for Apocalypse Now— middle-aged surfing teacher Ford (Sid Lucero) was casually raised by his teen mother with the longstanding family gossip that he was the product of a 1970s on-set affair with Francis Ford Coppola, and that someday a big paternity settlement would arrive. Now the island is revisited by Ford's boyhood best friend, the upscale son (and successor) of a local political chieftain, who brings with him the legal connections for a DNA test—as well as a beautiful fiancée, whom he seems to deliberately dangle in front of Ford to prompt infidelity and stir up a tsunami of relationship turbulence. Boasting terrific performances and lovely locales, this is recommended. (C. Cassady)