The pandemic is a thing of the past but, for Sarah (Sue Prado), poverty is still her reality. She struggles to make ends meet after losing her husband and continues to work at online classes, runs her laundry and sells desserts to her neighbours. Emman, her son who is played by Kokoy De Santos, recently lost his job as a waiter and is not inclined to start looking for another. While Emman provides assistance with her businesses, light romance brews with Amy who gets sexual pleasure but with no strings attached. Emman goes to her place not only to have sex with her but also for drug usage.
Although Sarah, the woman Emman (Kokoy De Santos) stays with now, takes care of him and is not his mother, he does sleep with her. Emman’s parents abandoned him a long time ago, which is how he came to live with Sarah. While Emman wants to give up on the act, Sarah is not quite on board with this plan one that could involve leaving their home. Their relationship exacerbates due to a fight Sarah and Emman get into. Furthermore, Emman believes Oliver (Miggy Jimenez) is going to be his replacement because Sarah is supposed to have sexual relations with Oliver from that point on.
Normality is one of the masks that Lana wears and we can tell that right from the beginning. The more we get into the story, the more we see the web of relations twisting into the funnels of exploitation, and betrayal. It is an explosive dynamic, further exacerbated by, for instance, the sex scenes which are steamy yet inevitably drenched in the elements of control and dominance, often rendering them bestial in nature. At the same time, all the people were used to such a life as a norm, with even the latest copy Olly the newcomer able to adjust himself so perfectly, until at one point the gunpowder barrel blows up in their faces. Without a doubt, violence was to be the outcome of characters performance. But it is quite alarming that they never (or chose not to) break this vicious circle.
Undoubtably, sometimes the word ensemble means a lot of things, however it is wise to say that “Your Mother’s Son” is indeed an ensemble piece since it features several amazing portraits all throughout the film. More precisely, it would be worth remembering Sue Prado, Elora Españo and more specifically Kokoy De Santos and their remarkable moments in the feature where every one of them gets a chance to shine through the insurmountable challenges faced by their characters. In doing so, Kokoy De Santos brilliantly captures the difficulties of playing a two-timing husband and a son who has secured the title of the man in the house and has the honor of being married to two women, but only through convincing them that his loyalism lies with them, he starts to feel claustrophobic. Increase in gauge, these so-called loyalists have very limited knowledge on social constructs, and are flaunted with self-pride that, for the past year, they have managed to keep their underbelly hidden from ordinary civilization, and without any guts they claim to have unique answers to all levels of violence and corruption characteristics. He has no idea how much he’s lying when he says, “We can’t be ourselves,” adding to the hypocrisy.
“Your Mother’s Son” by Jun Robles Lana is a social commentary which looks into the intricacies of manipulation and deception through the lens of drama that is filmed in the Philippines. Interestingly, Lana moves the production so vigorously visually and narratively that even those who do not relate to the film would still remember the bulk of it because of its irrelevant bleakness.
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