The relationship between a hard-working mother and her layabout son is challenged when she invites one of her students into their home, in the latest from prolific director Jun Robles Lana.
Love can take all shapes and sizes, and Jun Robles Lana’s (Bwakaw, TIFF ’12) latest chamber drama explores and challenges just that idea. What are the boundaries that define love, and where do we draw the line between morality and amorality, normality and abnormality?
Sarah is a middle-aged woman who hustles as the sole breadwinner of her family of two. As she scrambles to teach online courses and meet her food orders to provide for her son, her helper, Amy, wonders why her boss works so hard. Sarah’s son Emman doesn’t have a job and is often killing time at Amy’s by getting high and having sex. He’s a delinquent from all angles, but strangely possessive of his mother. One day, Sarah brings one of her students, Oliver, home to give him refuge from his violent father. Like throwing a catfish into a tank of sardines, Oliver’s appearance stirs Emman’s life and impacts his atypical relationship with Sarah. The change soon begins to crack Emman’s tank, and all the shocking secrets flood out uncontrollably.
On the surface, Lana’s newest film seems to delve into the theme of the Oedipus complex, yet it invents a category of its own. The odd, intimate relationships are skilfully brought to life by his talented cast — particularly Sue Prado and Kokoy de Santos — who play crucial roles in blowing up the balloon of intensity till its final burst at the climactic ending.
JUNE KIM
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival
Content advisory: violence, mature themes, sexual content, drug use, nudity