“Lilim” is definitely a family business for the Reds. Apart from Mikhail handling the direction, Raymond, his Palme D’Or Winning father is handling the cinematography while his brother, Nikolas, is in charge of the screenplay and the editing. The story takes place in Northern Luzon in 1983, a period of enforced disappearances under the Ferdinand Marcos regime, adding a political subcontext to a film that moves into horror paths for the most part. Let us take things from the beginning though.
Lilim is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
The film begins with Issa and her younger brother Tomas inside a car the former drives, running to escape from a crime she committed. The boy is evidently upset and at one point decides to run away, ending up inside the forest that was surrounding the road. Issa’s search for him leads the two of them into a secluded orphanage, where the nuns eventually take in the two siblings. Although relieved with the outcome, Tomas soon finds himself being bullied by other male students, while the sisters treat Issa as a sort of servant. If that was not enough, that something sinister is happening within the walls of the monastery becomes increasingly evident, as the rituals the nuns undergo become more mysterious and more evident. The two try to escape, uncovering a series of horrifying truths.
There are two, intermingling elements that allow “Lilim” to stand out in terms of narrative. The first is the build up Red implements to his story, which starts as a crime one, soon adds a ritualistic aspect that allows it to turn to psychological horror, before the whole thing moves into utterly horrific territory where blood starts filling the screen and demonic presences take over. By the end, the film has become something close to a slasher, concluding the whole transition. This gradual shift is truly impressive, with the way the bullying becomes something more sinister as more and more secrets are revealed being rather well handled.
The second is the overall atmosphere of the film. Starting with the trauma Issa carries and the way her actions affect her relationship with her brother, continuing with the way the place they seek shelter in turns into some sort of punishment, and concluding with the fact that they will have to rely on themselves to evade a truly horrific situation create an atmosphere of agony and disorientation that carries the film from beginning to end. The connection with the myth of Lilith and the fact that women are in charge of what is happening, with men frequently the victims, adds even more to this atmosphere, creating a setting that could easily be described as gothic horror, with the paintings on the wall also adding to this sense.
This last aspect also benefits the most by the visual approach. Raymond Red shoots the convent in a way that the suffocation it emits becomes more and more intense, while the combination of intense red and sepia tones, as much as the ‘clean’ appearance of the nuns and the boys in the convent create a very fitting, as much as appealing antithesis. The last part is even more impressive, as horror takes over, with Nikolas Red’s editing finding its apogee in those scenes. His overall work is also competent, essentially dictating the aforementioned transitions through the increase of the pace’s speed. The job in the sounds is impressive, and in combination with the editing results in some very effective jump scares, concluding the technical prowess here.
Heaven Peralejo in the role of Issa is quite convincing in her effort to save her brother and survive in an increasingly hostile environment, while the way her deeds affect her is also well presented. At the same time, her presence as another mainstream actress of Filipino cinema becoming a girl-with-a-gun definitely adds to the aesthetics of the film. Skywalker David as Tomas is also quite good in the role of the traumatized, bullied kid, while the whole cast of young boys act particularly well. The ones who still the show however, are definitely Dwayne James Bialoglovski as the main bully, who presents a truly sinister performance with gusto, and Ryza Cenon (with a shaved head) in the role of the main villain, who emits authority and fear with every move and every word.
Although it does not exactly reinvigorate the genre, “Lilim” is a well directed, well shot, well acted psychological horror/slasher that will definitely satisfy all fans of the particular genre.
