The whole thing seems to be about getting to certain scenes without having to do the work of building to them.

The premise behind everything that happens has potential, but the film is telling the story from a very limited perspective, one that happens to involve some very outlandish element that only serve to highlight the artificiality of the emotions at play.

This film takes on the appearance of your average prestige historical drama, but it quickly reveals itself to be something quite different.

Lily makes for an interesting double feature with another film in the lineup, Si Magdalola at ang mga Gago.

The film is most entertaining outside of the main story, when it’s just exploring the specifics of this magical setting.

All that one really needs to know is that it is a brutally unsentimental piece of science fiction, asking big questions about humanity’s place in the ecosystem, and the struggle to survive in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile.

The film basically has to say its point out loud at one point, the plot getting so convoluted and strange that there is just room for nuance anymore.

In the hands of better filmmakers and storytellers, this could have been an action movie with hidden depths, a story of pawns discovering their true power in a game of kings.

Cinema One Originals is a little different this year. It has diversified its main competition program, allowing three documentaries into the lineup along with seven narrative features.

It is another oddly chaste romance about an angsty teenager becoming the center of attention of gorgeous supernatural beings.