Lemonade Blessing Review (Tribeca): Adolescence Up Close
Chris Merola uses Lemonade Blessing to examine toxic masculinity, faith, and discovering yourself in this debut feature film.
Adolescence is hell for all but maybe three people, and it’s probably not awesome for them either. It’s an intense time when your brain is undergoing massive changes, which makes it hard to figure out who you are. In his film Lemonade Blessing, Chris Merola examines these changes through the eyes of a young man trying to find his place in a world that is hard to navigate.
John Santucci (Jake Ryan) primarily lives with his mother, Mary (Jeanine Serralles), a devout Catholic. She has enrolled him in a Catholic high school, where he meets Lilith (Skye Alyssa Friedman). The two begin a relationship, but much of it is predicated on John’s willingness to engage in somewhat blasphemous acts that Lilith demands of him. That runs up against his mother’s insistence that he behave in a completely chaste manner at all times. John also finds himself a bit turned around when he spends time with his father, Pete (Todd Gearhart), who seems to have his own thoughts about how people should behave.
Lemonade Blessing is a truly insightful movie about growing up and discovering one's identity. There are so many forces at work when you’re a kid. The religion you were raised with. The way that you interact with your parents. Trying to gain approval from your peers. The way that the media tells you that you need to behave. All of these pull in different directions, and Merola is able to capture all of them with an impressive amount of clarity.
I have been a fan of Jake Ryan since he played Gabe in Eighth Grade (one of my all-time favorite movies), and he has cemented his position as one of my favorite young actors in Lemonade Blessing. He delivers a truly beautiful performance in this film, providing so much heart to this character. The camera is up in his face throughout the bulk of this film, and he gives back so much to us as viewers.
One line that stuck out to me when I was watching was when John says to his mother, “I don’t think I have a ‘me’ part.” So much of adolescence is figuring out who you are in the context of those around you. We all absorb so much of those around us that it can be challenging to suss out who we are apart from other people, but this age is the first time we become aware of this need to discover ourselves.
Another element that is really lovely in Lemonade Blessing is the way that Merola looks at masculinity without hitting you over the head with it. You’re not going to hear Barbie levels of discussion about The Patriarchy in this movie, but throughout the film, the ways that patriarchy hurts both women and men are made apparent. It is impressive in both its subtlety and its brazenness.
The visuals also deserve a mention. As mentioned before, there are a number of close-ups throughout this movie that brilliantly echo the feeling of being under a microscope when you’re this age. It feels uncomfortable at times, but that works for what Merola is trying to convey.
There is often a focus on how difficult it is to be a woman in the world, and that is fair, because it is so. But it’s important to remember that it’s often tough to be a person in the world. Lemonade Blessing is a thoughtful and compassionate film that examines the ways in which we hurt one another and the ways in which we can find some measure of healing from one another as well.
Rating: 4/5
Check out my interview with writer and director Chris Merola.