History Literature / SmallerAndSmallerCircles

* CreepySouvenir: Saenz keeps jars of various pickled biological specimens in his lab. Occasionally he will pick up one or another from its shelf and study it. [[spoiler:Saenz's habits pale in comparison to [[SerialKiller Alex Carlos]], however, who keeps ''his victims' organs'' in a freezer at home.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/15966108_1258591684225589_2264714750556818602_n.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Look closer …"]]

-->''Look closer …''

* AtTheOperaTonight: The priests go to the Cultural Centre of the Philippines—ostensibly for a Mozart concerto, but actually to meet Mrs Iwasaki, the Japanese head of the foundation financing their research. This being the Philippines, a lot of high-society figures are also seen visibly milling about, showing off their baroque finery and judging others'. NBI Director Lastimosa and his family are also in attendance, as is the sinister Cardinal Meneses. (A bit of an ExaggeratedTrope: while most instances of the trope take place during the performance, in this case all the relevant scenes happen in the lobby before the performance even begins.)

* CreatorCameo: Original author F.H. Batacan shows up as one of the [[AtTheOperaTonight Cultural Centre of the Philippines crowd]].

* AtTheOperaTonight: The priests go to the Cultural Centre of the Philippines—ostensibly for a Mozart concerto, but actually to meet Mrs Iwasaki, the Japanese head of the foundation financing their research. This being the Philippines, a lot of high-society figures are also seen visibly milling about, showing off their baroque finery and judging others'. NBI Director Lastimosa is also in attendance, as is the sinister Cardinal Meneses.

* GenderFlip:

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Atty. Arcinas does not have the weird, redheaded coiffure he sports in the novel, just regular black hair, albeit rather long (around shoulder-length). Joanna points out that "he got his curls back" instead of "he dyed his hair again", as in the book.

** Dr Santa Romana. In the book, a woman named Jeannie; in the movie, a young man named Gino. (This might actually help pin him as a possible suspect, since he resembles the priests' profile of the killer—youngish adult, rather small and thin. Interestingly, Jeannie in the book also asks point blank if she is being suspected.)

** Dr Santa Romana. In the book, a woman named Jeannie; in the movie, a young man named Gino.

** The film has a slender, light-skinned Joanna, played by the mixed-race Carla Humphries, who has strong facial features and no trace of a rasp.

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Atty. Arcinas does not have the weird, strawberry-blond coiffure he sports in the novel, just regular black hair, albeit rather long (around shoulder-length).
** Saenz's hair looks darker than the obvious salt-and-pepper greyness it was in the book. It's also short and neatly combed, unlike his book version's long "rockstar" 'do.

* GenderFlip: Councillor Mariano. In the book, a man named Cesar; in the movie, a woman named Tess.

* SinisterMinister: Cardinal Meneses, who is shielding Msgr. Ramirez from legal or disciplinary action following accusations that the latter abused several orphans at his last posting.

* IgnoredExpert: Most of the higher-ups in government condescendingly dismiss Fr. Saenz's theory that serial killers do exist in the Philippines—they maintain that the SerialKiller phenomenon is restricted to the West, and to "white males in their thirties".

!!''Smaller and Smaller Circles'' contains examples of:

** Tess Mariano's campaign video urges would-be voters to find her name at "No. 46 on the ballot". 1990s election ballots did not assign a number to each candidate's name. [[note background]]Up to the late 2000s, election ballots listed the names of candidates and party-lists (basically small political parties) in alphabetical order, leading to a huge rash of new party-lists using the letter A or the number 1 as initials (e.g. Akbayan, Ako Bicol, [=1Pacman=], 1-UTAK, etc.), all jockeying for the top slots on each ballot. The 2013 general election changed the rules by randomising the order of party-list and candidate names. In response, party-list candidates started directing their constituents to find their names by indicating where they appeared on the ballot.[[/note]] [[note Caveat]]The campaign ad misses other details though: Mariano is running as a city councillor for her district, ''not'' as a national party-list representative. District candidates are ''still'' listed alphabetically, and even in the 2010s, all told, Quezon City (where Mariano is implied to be running) had a total of 36 councillors, and likely less in the 1990s. Higher assigned numbers tend to appear when electing party-lists, since there's a large number of them competing on the national level, and all of them have to be listed on the ballot.[[/note]]

** Tess Mariano's campaign video urges would-be voters to find her name at "No. 46 on the ballot". Election ballots did not require a number beside the candidate's name until they were computerised in 2010.

** Tess Mariano's campaign video urges would-be voters to find her name at "No. 46 on the ballot". In the 1990s election ballots did not require a number beside the candidate's name.

* AdaptationalUgliness: Film!Saenz (played by Nonie Buencamino) is not particularly a looker the way his novel counterpart is, with the latter's exceptional height, sharp features, long, stringy grey hair and fondness for youthful T-shirts; the former looks more generally average, and dresses more conservatively as well. See AbilityOverAppearance.