Essential Truths Of The Lake

A detective takes on a cold case, the murder of a young woman 15 years earlier. Recalling Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, the investigation becomes as much about the broader sociopolitical landscape as an inquiry into individual culpability. Filipino superstar John Lloyd Cruz reprises his role as Lt. Hermes Papauran from Diaz’s previous When the Waves Are Gone (SFF 2023), this time investigating a different crime. The director’s trademarks are all here: starkly transfixing black-and-white compositions, startling novelistic digressions (including a film-within-a-film faux-documentary introducing the missing woman), and an atmosphere that bristles with bracing dissident anger. As with the filmmaker’s best work, it’s equally meditative and urgent.