Review of Lila Says (2005) by Tor M — 20 Nov 2010

Despite any description anywhere to the contrary, there is no NR Region 1 flavor of the film. Sony fogged and/or clipped all visual sexual content in order to distribute a film well inside the R rating.

A 19 year-old Marseilles man (Khouas) idles away life in his Arab banlieue (ie, ghetto) with three pals who are more natural at being low-life hoodlums than he. His French teacher asks him to submit a novella to gain admittance to a writer's school in Paris, but he declines, as it is easier for "a loser to stay with losers.".

However Paris won't be denied - and it immediately arrives in the form of Lila (Giacante), a gorgeous 16 year-old blonde Lolita. Giacante's no small talker when it comes to her sexual persona, making her every young man's dream come true - and a dream that compels Khouas to steal a notebook and start a diary.

Each meeting with Lila reveals to Khouas yet another, more prurient layer of Giacante's desires and experiences. As Khouas slowly becomes ever more enraptured and consumed by his Parisian Muse, Giacante also becomes the cause of a widening rift between Khouas and the street life that is the only world he has ever known.

The viewer's patience is rewarded as, slowly, what Giacante is really truly saying to Khouas - and how she is saying it - is revealed.

In this film, the plot's the thing; the acting is not terribly impressive. Aside from his voiceover narration, Khouas delivers the viewer mostly silence and emotionless expression. While Giacante is a sultry and captivating vision to behold, she plays her role more as the model than the actor.

Recommended foremost on the strength of its crafted writing.