Student Film Review: The ‘LILA’ is a Chilling Four Minutes

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Pace MCVA

Pace MCVA’s ‘LILA’ is a mix of disturbing and solid cinematography.

Jake Maddia, Arts & Entertainment Writer

If you love traditional horror movies or movies that are flat out eerie, then you are in luck. A short film called LILA was filmed on this campus and is on YouTube right now. It may be one of the eeriest short films out there. The film’s premise is simple but the acting, the score, and incredible cinematography make the movie that much better.

The movie only features two actors but both do an incredibly good job. In fact, the actress who plays Lila in the movie, Nitara Ortiz, based her performance off Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, which fits perfectly for the overall tone of this movie.

“I based my performance off Christian Bale from American Psycho because his character in that movie is insane and that’s what my character is supposed to be like,” she said.

Even though Ortiz is good in the film, being an actress is not her goal. Ortiz wants to be a screenwriter or a director. However, no one was available for the part of Lila, so she decided to take it.

“I didn’t want to be in the film at first because I don’t want to be an actress. However, no one was available and my professor really needed someone for the part so that’s when I decided to take it.”

Aside from the performances, another thing that makes this movie great is the cinematography. In fact, a lot of the movie uses visual storytelling which relies heavily on cinematography. Now, even though a lot of the setting is just the Pace Pleasantville campus, it is the way it is presented that makes it all worthwhile. The best way to describe the film’s cinematography is clear and crisp.

Despite the short film looking like it could have been a recent blockbuster, the filming process only took a total of two to three classes to make, which, according to Nitara, is the equivalent of 12 hours.

Even though it did not take that long to make the film, it still looks really great visually and is extremely well acted. If you are a fan of creepy movies, definitely check out LILA on YouTube.