‘Essential Truths of the Lake’ Review: Things Don’t End Well in Lav Diaz’s Languorous Detective Story
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic “Essential Truths of the Lake” is the last thing most people would expect from Lav Diaz: a direct follow-up to his previous film, “When the Waves Are Gone.” It’s not a sequel, per se (this one actually comes earlier), but they are connected, with a third movie featuring the same disillusioned police detective in the works.
The Filipino filmmaker, whose pokey social critiques run anywhere from three to 11 hours, established the character of Lt. Hermes Papauran (John Lloyd Cruz) in “Waves.” Described there as “arguably the greatest Filipino investigator ever,” he’s Diaz’s version of “The Singing Detective”: a tortured enforcer afflicted with a skin condition that reflects on the surface the conflict and cynicism roiling within him.
He’s a good cop in a corrupt country, furious with how Rodrigo Duterte mishandled the war on drugs. It’s a basic rule of dramaturgy that it’s not enough just to say that someone’s good at his job; you have to show it.
But Diaz doesn’t subscribe to anything resembling conventional storytelling rules, having found a receptive audience on the festival circuit for his endurance-test style.
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