SYNOPSICS
Looking Through Lillian (2001) is a English movie. Jake Torem has directed this movie. Jade Henham,Sam Bottoms,Robert Glen Keith,Essence Atkins are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Looking Through Lillian (2001) is considered one of the best Drama,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Conveniently numbed and estranged from her surroundings, Lillian sleepwalks through life. Paramount to her world is Gene, a wealthy disturbed businessman who has slowly become her benefactor over the years. When he unexpectedly leaves for a week to go skiing with his wife, Lillian is dragged out on the town by her best friend, Andrea. That's when she meets Luke, a mysterious smooth-talking writer who opens her eyes to the world, prompting her to take a long look at the life she's chosen for herself. When Gene returns, Lillian finds herself caught in the middle of a triangle. Ultimately she discovers that what appears on the surface to be true quite often is not. Her struggle for freedom and a sense of identity culminates in a conflict where the one love may not be the one you can trust and the habits with which one sleepwalks through life are not easily broken.
Looking Through Lillian (2001) Trailers
Looking Through Lillian (2001) Reviews
Finally a chick flick with the guts to tell it like it is!
Forget about the fairy tales, this is the way it really is. Pretty girls who get the prince find themselves trapped in twisted castles. Lillian is a kept woman and has it all - stunning looks, great body, expensive clothes, she even drives a Porsche. But wait til you find out what she has to do to keep it! Jade Henham could have just stood there and let the camera photograph her, but no. Henham can actually act. She gives us another side of Lillian - the scared, vulnerable little girl who's falling apart at the seams. Sam Bottoms is worthwhile in a skirt. His full frontal nudity scene is worth my $9. The movie is slow in spots and the rest of the cast is weak, though Luke is not bad on the eyes. But the end is worth the wait. Who is this Jake Torem and what else has he done? Man does this guy have the guts to give it to you raw!
Elegant and Very Sophisticated
Kevin Thomas of the LA Times reviewed this film as "An Elegant and Sophisticated portrayal of a Young Mistress Awakening." I recently came across this film on netflix and when i got around to seeing it, I found that Thomas couldn't have said it better. The film is awfully mature for a young group of filmmakers and the very best thing about it is that it's so unique. The storytellers have created a 2very different world one that I would imagine many people will have a tough time understanding. The themes however are right there for you to see - dysfunction, addiction, secrets, real intimacy, trust, loneliness,and best of all the quest for psychological freedom and self respect. I can't really think of another film quite like it. It's extremely rich and it never turns out the way you'd expect it too. I noticed that the film was only released on the big screen in LA, I'd be curious to see it play before a NY audience. This is a film that I would suspect will influence many films as cinema edges away from mainstream sex toward deviant sexual behavior. Very wise, perhaps too wise for a first film. Don't expect to be aroused by steamy sex scenes, this one get's into the mindset of a broken flower and how she blooms again, just when you least expect her too. Bravo Lillian!
Tearing down the walls of the most taboo subjects imaginable.
A surreal peek into the life of a jaded woman striving for acceptance in a less than perfect world. Her attempts at finding her place in society are made more difficult by her dependancy on a cross dressing drug addicted businessman to pay her bills. The scene in which this twisted, co-dependant relationship finally reaches the point of no return is both a shocking but totally organic surprise! See this film - for it's flaws, its courage and the uncompromising grittiness that makes it a true independant!!!
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.
P.T.A. look out...
A lot of people look toward the 20 something generation and still aren't sure what to make of us. This movie shows you that anyone can be screwed up and that we all have our share of dark little secrets. The story gives a perverse look into the lives of three people that are very much like anyone you know. First there's Lillian, and it's cool cause through out the movie that's just what we're all doing - looking at her from all directions (Looking Through Lillian). The actress reminded me a little of Jane March - exotic and aloof - and by the end of the film, even though you still don't quite know who she is, she tears your heart out. Then there's Luke, who's portrayed as this sort of smug, sarcastic writer. I could really relate to some of the things he said and there's this great scene where he throws Lillian for a genuine loop and I was like "I should try that some time" (you'll know what I mean when you see the movie). Last but not least, there's Gene (who I'm happy to say is not part of my twenty something generation), who has this twisted creepy little secret. At first, you're like "No Way", but I honestly have to say he pulls it off pretty scarily. It's a trip to watch where this movie lands and since Trainspotting came out, I've been waiting for someone in America to pull off something new and do it with some style. Jake Torem is a filmmaker who does just that. P.T.A. look out...