Lemonade Blessing
“Lemonade Blessing” was an uncomfortable sit. That’s not inherently a bad thing; but Chris Merola’s coming-of-age comedy hits some notes that are pretty rough, not just within the confines of the genre but in general. I’m sure that if I had a Catholic School background, they might resonate a bit more with me, but as such, I could only go so far with his film before I didn’t find myself as engaged with it.
The first thing we see is young John trying to sleep while his parents fight. My parents never divorced, but I remember times where they would argue, and trying not to let it impact me was difficult; Merola captures this anxiety perfect in the film, and anxiety would be a big part of this film moving forward. Cut to a few years later, and John (Jake Ryan) is starting Catholic High School at the behest of his devout mother, Mary (Jeanine Serralles). While there, he finds himself making friends, as well as in a relationship with Lilith (Skye Alyssa Friedman), who finds herself drawn to John. She also makes some unusual demands of John to drive their relationship forward, all the while he finds himself wrestling with his personal faith.
“Lemonade Blessing” feels like it was probably a very personal work for writer-director Merola, but it also feels very hyper-energetic in how it portrays the characters. All of the individuals, including friends and a mentor at the school, feel like unique individuals and not just archetypes, but I get the sense they are remembered through heightened emotions and a sense of a young man who is trying to remember those moments, and feels the need to maybe exaggerate the emotions to make them come through. This feels clearest in John and Lilith’s relationship dynamic, where Lilith is aggressive in how she wants to push forward sexually, and asks him to do some pretty rough things if he wants to continue. One of the most compelling aspects of “Lemonade Blessing” is how it looks at sexuality and agnosticism as sins to be avoided. The latter comes from John’s father (Todd Gearhart), who has no interest in religion and is seen doing meditation when John is with him. John is a conflicted soul, and the aggressiveness of his mother only compounds his conflict. And yet, at a key point, he only wants one person. Personally, this was a mixed bag of a film- amplified emotions that made it hard to regulate, but also getting to some truths about growing up that are universal, whether we have any personal experience in the situation or not.
