Looking Through Lillian

"Looking Through Lillian" tells of a young single woman who is mistress to a middle aged man into kinky sex. A narrow slice-of-life indie and a commendable first outing for the Torem/Henham team, though it suffers from the usual newbie claustrophobia, low budget leanness, mediocre jukebox score, etc., "Looking..." starts off with promise which is unfulfilled in the playout. Henham (Lillian) makes a solid centerpiece showing some range and nailing her nuances as her character grapples with the issue of keeping the easy money which is fueling her low self esteem or ditching them for the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, the film fizzles with a much-ado-about-nothing sort of denouement which will likely leave the viewer feeling like they just ate Chinese. An okay chick flick for females into serious drama with shades of kinkiness. (C+)

Why... that's my only question, why this horrible soundtrack of a garage band with no talent , this cast ( i'm sure in some scenes reading off cards ).... why all the clichees ever seen are all in this flick ALL of them, can you one second fall for any of these caracters or actually believe in this cheezy romance. Plain horrible .. stay very very far from this movie please I beg you. There's so much excellent indie film out there. why

This film is intense. It has a totally cool European sense of style and flair. The music kicks ass and there's a PAYOFF, the likes of which I've never seen before -- Give you a clue: There's this one scene in the movie that is so completely bizarre and f*cked up that at first, and I wasn't the only one, you find yourself chuckling out of sheer nervousness and then it just keeps on going, relentlessly - and you're like "Whoa!" The filmmaker puts Lillian - who is one fine looking, classy, grunge kind of f*cked up chick - in the "driver's" seat throughout. And she's good at it. Some of the material is really uncomfortable to watch. And Sam Bottoms, who I usually don't like - not only goes out on a limb - but " Boldly " goes as far as I've ever seen an actor go physically. I have just one conclusion: This material is so utterly personal and emotional that it's either REAL - and I mean based somewhere in reality - or these guys are GOOD.

Either way, they sure are original. And they got my vote - WAY UP!

OK, so I'll admit to not seeing the movie but I was actually a member of the production team (low level) and could not believe it when a friend of mine introduced me to this site asking what the most obscure film I could think of was. I was willing to test his enthusiasm over a site that "has every movie you've ever heard of on it." Well, I lived in LA for a few years and worked on a few indies and had no idea this film had even made it to release when I blurted out this title. As you know, it was here, shocking the hell out of me!

To the crew and Jake (and the DP I can picture jerking his head around like a chicken for laughs) I say congratulations! I did not know much at the time but the weeks I worked were an eye-opening experience. I won't say the set was like "Living in Oblivion" but it was close. I met some great people on-set and got to say goodbye to a few before I left. ("We need more wind.") I can't bring myself to divulge any messy off camera details although it was tense, loud at times, obviously bawdy and a bit hard to merely standby at times. The crew, for the most part, were professionals and held up their end which is why I will definitely watch this film soon.

Just had to chime in and express my amazement that this site truly has "every movie you've ever heard of." If you're a crew member then no, I brought you coffee(and drove from the cliffs to Tony Roma's or the Stinking Rose, I can't remember which).

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!