In the spirit of year-enders,  I’m rounding up ten noteworthy films I saw this year but didn’t get to write about, starting with:

The Road (Directed by Yam Laranas)

This is probably the best horror film of 2011 because it is beautifully shot, well-paced, and highly polished. The film, which involves an old house on a quiet country road, is artfully constructed although not without a couple of loopholes. But I’m willing to overlook my nagging questions because The Road is a stylish and intelligently executed tale of superstition and revenge, tragedy and violence. Why not mix Filipino gothic (lock the dead labandera in the tocador why don’t you) with tragedies more typical of the West—because when did the abused boy become a serial killer in the Philippines—and come up looking cool? And who cares if it’s all very unreal: in the end, The Road is an entertaining horror movie whose quality vastly outshines others in the genre.

Made in the Philippines (Directed by Jullian Ablaza) was the most positive viewing experience I had this year. Screened at Cinemalaya last July, I was compelled to catch Jullian’s documentary about entrepreneurship in the Philippines because I met him and his crew (all of two sweaty Canadians who seemed to be having fun) when they shot in Manila.  It traces the path of unlikely success stories, primarily Jennilyn “Ehje” Antonio, a simple housewife from Laguna who makes the most amazing peanut butter. The message delivers a dose of much needed optimism, honestly hard to find these days. It shows the best side of the Filipino: creative, hard working, resilient, and never lacking in faith. After the screening, they gave out samples of Ehje’s Peanut Butter, which tasted of freshness, handmade goodness, and most of all, success.