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Summary: Is there a soundtrack available?
Review: Does anyone know if there's a soundtrack available for this movie?
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful if theatrical
Review: Lilies is a beautiful play and the sense of the play is very much present in the film. That theatricality can be a little off-putting if you are not prepared for it - the inmates performing all the roles, male and female, for example - but for me it does not distract from the simplicity of the story. The soundtrack, sections of a latin mass, composed by Michael Danna, add an ethereally spiritual quality to the procedings. Well worth the suspension of disbelief.
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Summary: L'art pour l'art
Review: Some films just can't be grasped on the first go-around. Lillies is one such film. After the first viewing, I was left more confused than moved, but the second time meant a significant improvement. Things came into perspective and I realized what a superb little film this is.The story itself is quite ingenious. Quebec, 1952. A prison. The first scene opens with a priest arriving to hear confession. Nothing out of the ordinary......but as soon the confessional door closes, the mind-boggling roller-coaster begins. The penitent, Simon, has plans other than unburdening his soul. He and his fellow inmates put on a play within a play in order to help the unsuspecting Bishop Bilodeau refresh his clouded memory of events that happened some fifty years ago..... Simon and Bilodeau study together at the local school where a third boy, Vallier, has fallen in love with Simon. Simon and Vallier tryst in the school's attic, while Bilodaeu secretly lusts after Simon himself. Bilodeau attempts to separate the lovers in the guise of 'saving' Simon's sin-tainted soul, when in actuality, he only wants Simon for himself. Simon's father soon learns of his son's secret affair and brutally beats him. In reaction, Simon runs from Vallier and prepares to marry a visiting baroness. The wounded Vallier retreats to his equally-forlorn mother and together they plan to crash the approaching wedding and put Simon's love to the test. Their plan reaps it harvest and Simon soon confesses his love for Vallier. A happy ending is in the works, when Bilodeau blunders back into frame hoping to elope with Simon. Rejected, he reacts rashly and seals Simon's fate for the next fifty years. All the while, the film dances among the colorful past and dreary, incarcerated present as the inmates do their best to make Bishop Bilodeau confront his long-forgotten deed. The long-awaited 'confession' comes and the curtain draws, Simon avenged. No doubt a sumptous feast of colors, striking images, great performances (the baroness steals the show with her smoldering, sexy aura), Lillies is also arch and contrived, in a word, theatrical. The dialogue is so poetic as to seem rhetorical and forced. The characters say everything so touchingly, yet they fail to touch us. Even the final confession falls limp. Everybody tries so hard to say dramatic things that the drama itself suffers. The characters don't make us feel their predicament. This unnaturalness--for lack of a better word--is further compounded by the complete absence of women in the film. Understandable, but the excess of male-ness unnerves and annoys after awhile. Despite its artistic over-kill, Lillies is ultimely redeemed by its creativity and stunning beauty. Every scene is superbly crafted. Kudos to director Greyson, he truly understands his camera. No shot is wasted. Whether it's a close-up or a back-drop, the images in this movie often hit home harder than the dialogue. And the music. Lofty and atmospheric, it alone is worthy of four stars. And true to its theatrical origins, Lillies does deliver the moral goods. We are instructed and edified through the suffering of Simon and Vallier. Bouchard's play starkly outlines the tragic cost of running from ourselves. To quote another 'playwright's' immortal words, 'To thine ownself be true.' For those looking for a luscious piece of tasty and filling eye candy, then look no further!
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding and poetic
Review: Watching Lilies is like strolling through a museum never sure about what you will see next. This complex little film challenges you visually and emotionally and comes up a winner. I dare you to not be caught up in the beauty of this film or the romance of the story.
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