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Water Lemon
Year of Release: 2015
Director: Lemuel Lorca
Screenwriter: Lilit Reyes
Producers: Blue Skies Productions, Quezon City Film Development Commission, Tuko Film Productions
Cast: Junjun Quintana, Tessie Tomas, Alessandra de Rossi, Meryll Soriano, Lou Veloso, Lui Manansala, Menggie Cobarrubias, Daniel Marsh, Mariella Castillo, Yuwin Cruz, Gold Aquino, Jerald Zarsuela, Tristan Jason Herrin, Dorcas Nilooban, Roann Casimiro, Kathlyn Cabaldo, Maria Theresa Pasamba, Mary Grace Virtusios, Lilit Reyes, Reizel Ann S. Guanlea, Joseph G. Rogado, Kathlyn C. Atienza, Beatrice Lombard
In Mauban municipality in Quezon Province, Filemon obsesses over the earth’s ocean surface, measuring the sea level everyday and entering his findings on a chart. He explains his concerns to anyone who cares to listen, which people in his community generally allow him to, in recognition of his autistic condition. He also talks swiftly in English, following the advice of his widowed mother Pina, who’s concerned about the future her son will have after she dies. Because of his inability to focus on assigned work, Filemon loses his job as a filing clerk in a government office. Because of her position as an education supervisor, she asks an old friend to provide a position for Filemon that can make use of his fondness for order and design. Filemon has also taken to hanging out at the internet café, where he makes the online acquaintance of someone he calls “Ms. Seychelles,” since she hails from the country. When his cousin, who runs the café, is actually visited by the American she befriended online and winds up arranging to marry him so she can migrate to England, her father invites Filemon to an all-night drinking session.
Philippine cinema has attained sufficient stature as the equivalent of national literature that it can accommodate an intensely personal issue—autism spectrum disorder, in this instance—and not worry about addressing wider topical questions. The fallacy in this formulation is that any well-developed argument will inevitably be able to draw in contemporary concerns as a matter of course, although these must be read carefully and creatively, as befits any intelligent work of fiction. Water Lemon situates itself in the filmmaker’s own hometown, a decision that endows it with a fundamental level of credibility, although to Lemuel Lorca’s credit, what he exploited was his familiarity with the place’s scenic locations, specifically those that reveal their wonder from certain vantage points during particular hours of the day. A clue to the film’s unusual appeal lies in the setting’s name (Quezon being the southernmost Tagalog-speaking province, renamed after the nationalist President who hailed from the place): uban refers to hair strands that turn white usually from old age, so the Mauban municipality exhibits a well-kempt vibe despite being situated northernmost geographically and therefore not as distant from Manila as most of the other destinations in the province. The characters in WL speak of professional and financial success as premised on relocating to the metropolitan center, with one of the younger go-getters determined to travel even farther, outside of the country, as a marriage migrant. When the primary character’s mother is complimented for her abilities and achievements, the same hope of Manila-centered fulfillment is expressed for her; her self-awareness is complimented without any tinge of self-pity—in fact, as she confides to a colleague, she worries about what will happen to Filemon, her autistic son, after she passes on. No cure exists for his condition, as anyone familiar with the medical literature knows. At the presentation’s close, with the predicament of mother and afflicted offspring, as well as other characters carrying on with the processes of living, dying, and leaving, what emerges is a recognizable representation of a nation in flux, determined to move forward but also anxious about leaving anyone behind.
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