QCinema2023: Review of ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE LAKE: Onerous Obsession

 November 23, 2023

In 2005, beautiful model and artist Esmeralda Stuart (Shaina Magdayao) was a popular personality in the lakeside town of Talisay in Batangas province. She was enigmatic, no one knew exactly what she did for a living. Her friend's called her a child genius for her multiple talents. Her last known project was a performance art and advocacy piece about the Philippine Eagle, before she disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again.

15 years later, police Lt. Hermes Papauran (John Lloyd Cruz) requested from his police academy classmate and now superior officer, the Colonel (Agot Isidro), to reopen the investigation to Stuart's case for him. Among those he interviewed were those close to her, like businessman Jack Barquero (Bart Guingona), documentary filmmaker Jane Liway (Hazel Orencio) and Melchora Taytay (Susan Africa), in whose guest room he stayed.

We first knew about the character of Lt. Hermes Papauran in Lav Diaz's last film "Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon" (2022), where he was introduced as "the greatest police investigator in the country." In this second adventure of his, he went to the shores of Taal Lake to reinvestigate a case which had been left unsolved. After he shot a drug suspect in cold blood in the name of Operation Tokhang, Papauran's obsession with the Stuart case was revived.

Running for 3hrs 45 minutes, this film is of modest length by Lav Diaz standards. Cinephiles who have had prior experience with Diaz's long-winded style of cinematic storytelling will find this film oddly comfortable and relatively easy to watch. However, like previous Diaz films, there were some confusing scenes that seemed so random, or those that seemed totally unnecessary, or those that were never mentioned again. The ending felt abrupt, as if the investment of our time frustrating led to nothing conclusive.

There were puzzling scenes about a cassava cake (balinghoy) seller Ramoncito (Romark Barrion) and his poor mother Perlita Pura (Juanita Carnero). There were tedious scenes about how scavenger boy Achilles (Reynan Abcede) learned the Homerian tale behind his name, then spent a night pasting posters on walls. There was two protracted scenes where we saw a seemingly interminable procession of women praying the Rosary.

Like "Historya ni Ha" (2021), John Lloyd Cruz was front, center and all over "Essential Truths". Despite the time and physicality involved in making a Diaz film, Cruz considers it his "cultural duty" to be part of one. He gamely did the most absurd scenes, such as those where he walked around town wearing Stuart's Phil. Eagle costume, and that truly bizarre scene of a fully-naked Cruz on all fours, with a leash being pulled by his real-life son Elias. 7/10. 

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Here are my reviews of the other Lav Diaz films I had seen before:

KAPAG WALA NANG ALON (MY REVIEW)

HISTORYA NI HA (MY REVIEW)

PAN, GENUS (MY REVIEW)

ANG HUPA (MY REVIEW)

ANG PANAHON NG HALIMAW (MY REVIEW)

ANG BABAENG HUMAYO (MY REVIEW)

HELE SA HIWAGANG HAPIS (MY REVIEW)

MULA SA KUNG ANO ANG NOON (MY REVIEW)

NORTE: HANGGANAN NG KASAYSAYAN (MY REVIEW)

FLORENTINA HUBALDO, CTE (MY REVIEW)

MELANCHOLIA (MY REVIEW)

EVOLUTION OF A FILIPINO FAMILY (MY REVIEW)