‘Aurora’

(We are running this guide to help moviegoers plan their holiday cinema tour. The 44thMetro Manila Film Festival runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7, 2019.)

Directed by Yam Laranas; stars Anne Curtis, Marco Gumabao, Phoebe Villamor

A passenger ship named Aurora crashes into a rocky shore near a tiny island, leaving thousands of people dead. Some of the bodies surface and get retrieved, but many more remain missing, causing distress among the victims’ families.

Leana (Anne), who owns a ramshackle inn on the island, is asked to help in the search and retrieval operation in exchange of money—P50,000 per body. She’s hesitant at first, but her sympathy for the grieving families eventually get the better of her.

With much encouragement from her younger sister, Leana—together with her ex-boyfriend, Ricky (Marco)—sets off and braves the raging and murky waters around the shipwreck.

This survival thriller is Anne’s first entry in the annual festival since “Baler” in 2008. “Anne had to be underwater for 30 seconds to one minute to shoot her scenes,” Yam related, but the actress refused to use doubles and insisted on doing the stunts herself. —ALLAN POLICARPIO