Looking Through Lillian (2002)

Director:

Jake Torem

Writers:

Jade Henham (writer)
Jake Torem (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Sex... Dysfunction... Addiction... Everybody's got a habit

Plot:

An X-Rated 'Holly-Go-Lightly' flip flops between choosing life's uncertainty under her own direction or the "Good Life" provided by a twisted sister Gene.

Plot Keywords:

Secret | Role Playing | Sexual Awakening | Fetish | Lost Soul

Cast

Jade Henham	...	Lilly
Sam Bottoms	...	Gene
Robert Glen Keith	...	Luke
Essence Atkins	...	Andrea
Edward Lee Johnson	...	Mick
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hedia Anvar	...	The Hot Girl
Susan Barnes	...	Helen
Jack Forbes	...	Man in elevator
Marie-Claude Hamel	...	Nicole
Will Klipstine	...	Valet

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Mad Sun Films

Trivia:

The entire film was shot in only 18 days.

Quotes:

Luke: You're pure Lillian. You just got a little lost along the way.

A Beautiful Film

I was really surprised to see IMDb list this film as a Drama/Thriller. For those of you yet to see this film, it is in no way a thriller. That being said, it is a drama, more precisely - a character study driven drama - and a beautiful one at that. The movie has us follow Lilly - a twenty-something girl trying to navigate her way through her dysfunctional life and her somewhat complex and conflicting feelings about herself, those around her, and the world at large. Henham, who portrays Lillian, imbues her with such a realistic feel that one begins to feel as those they are spying on someone's life, without permission. The realism that the actress gives to each moment helps to make this an engrossing film because we find ourselves investing in Lilly and almost holding her hand to take the journey with her.

That journey is navigated very clearly by the director. You can almost see the repression he has stamped on his lead character and the box that he has created for her to try and get out of. And therein lies her stumbling block and the hurdle that one takes with her as an audience member. Those hurdles are very specific and not the exact same ones as most people face, but at the very time, the beauty is that on a larger scale they are universal. Sexual dysfunction, identity crises, love and the sting that can follow each time we open our hearts, connecting or not being able to connect to the world, loneliness, hope, heartache and the sometimes insurmountable task of undoing what's already been done.

There's no guarantee with any movie that everyone that sees it will like it, but there is one guarantee with this film: you will come out feeling very strongly about it, whether one way or another. For those of you who liked High Art, Everything Put Together or Monster's Ball, this is definitely a movie you should check out.