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| "Lilies" directed by John Greyson | | Date Created: Apr 27, 2005, 10:01 AM |
Released in 1996, Lilies is the story of Simon, a prisoner in a Quebec prison in the 1950s. Before he dies, Simon has requested that the local Bishop hear his confession. When the Bishop arrives, he is forced to watch a play produced by the prisoners about events that transpired 30 years earlier and led to Simon's conviction. The movie then shifts perspectives back and forth between this play being put on by the prisoners, and the actual events that happened earlier. This confession, we're told by Simon, is about revenge.
I don't want to say much more about the plot, because I don't want to give too much away.
One of the things I don't like about living in Michigan is that we rarely get to see much queer cinema. In the Advocate, we get to read about all the new movies coming out, but we rarely get to actually see them as they tend to only be released in New York, or LA. Occasionally we'll get to see a few of them at a local LGBT film festival. But for the most part, we just have to rent them when (and if) they ever make it to DVD.
So, Lilies was a movie we didn't get to see here in the sticks, and it's too bad, because it's a wonderful movie. The plot is engaging and contains at least two big twists that aren't telegraphed at all, and yet are completely believeable. The acting is wonderful. (Because the "play" is being performed in a prison, all of the female characters are played by men. Then, when the perspective switches to the actual events, the women are still played by the men, for continuity. Though this sounds strange, believe it or not, it doesn't seem clunky at all when you're watching it.)
Because the movie shifts perspectives so quickly at the beginnig of the movie, I'd suggest you suspend judgement during the first 15 minutes or so. It really will make sense, and does indeed get wrapped up eventually.
In some sense the "gay thing" is almost unimportant to the plot of the movie, and yet at the same time, it is the pivot on which the rest of the movie turns.
So if you, like me, live in the hinterlands and didn't get the chance to see this when it came out, go to your local alterna-video store and rent it.
(Oh, and it doesn't hurt that two of the main characters are quite beautiful.) |
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