Alessandra de Rossi Movies

Two up-and-coming Philippine filmmakers, Raya Martin and Adolfo B. Alix Jr., offer tales of life on the mean streets of the nation's biggest city in this two-part drama. In the first story, William (Piolo Jose Pascual) is a junkie who needs to score heroin. When a buy is interrupted by cops, Williams is left without dope and is on the run from the law, and he scours the underbelly of the city in desperate search of a fix. Meanwhile, William's mother (a former Madame with underworld connections) and girlfriend both fear the worst and try to find him before he buys more drugs or runs afoul of the police. In the second part, Piolo Jose Pascual returns as Phillip, who works as a bodyguard for Barry (Jay Manalo), the hard-partying son of a wealthy and powerful politician. Phillip sometimes feel disloyal to Barry because of his infatuation with Amy (Alessandra De Rossi), Barry's lover of the moment. Phillip reveals his true commitment to his boss when they're accosted by a street gang and Phillip shoots a man trying to hurt Barry. However, Barry doesn't want any part of the possible legal repercussions and fires Phillip to distance himself from the situation, leaving him to fend for himself against a gang bet on revenge. Manila also features a short final sequence directed by Lav Diaz; the film was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When a young woman from the Philippines arrives in Singapore to begin work as a domestic maid, her naïve lack of superstition leaves her an open target for the undead as the gates of hell come blasting open in a terrifying tale of the supernatural directed by Kelvin Tong and starring Alessandra de Rossi. In the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, legend has it that the souls of the damned ascend from hell to walk the Earth; however, there are a series of secrets to avoiding their wrath. From not going for a midnight swim to never turning around when you hear your name called in the darkness and never conversing with strangers on a deserted road, humans can avoid a horrific fate if they simply remain steadfast in their determination to shun evil for 30 days. Rosa (de Rossi) is an innocent, though, and upon arriving for her new job in the seventh month, she carelessly breaks every rule intended to keep the living safe from the murderous powers of the underworld. A box-office hit in its native Singapore, director Tong's homegrown tale of horror arrives stateside to test and fray the nerves of Asian horror lovers who previously suffered sleepless nights as the result of such films as Ju-on and Ringu. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Filipino filmmaker Gil M. Portes directs the drama Mga Munting Tinig (Small Voices), based on the teaching experience of his niece during the 1980s. Alessandra de Rossi plays Melinda Santiago, an idealistic young woman who takes a teaching position at a small rural school in the Philippine province of Malawig. With a corrupt government and scarce economic opportunities, the townsfolk struggle to survive. While many of the adults choose to join the guerilla military force, the children are made to work on family farms rather than receive an education. Against many of the parents' wishes, Melinda enters her class in a singing competition. Small Voices premiered at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi