The classic independent film, which recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of its festival premiere, is available to watch for free
Mike Gibisser’s Finally, Lillian and Dan is one of the most sensitive and delicate films to ever come out of America. It feels like it would shatter to pieces if there were even just the slightest over-emphasis on a particular tone or emotion. Humbly described by Gibisser as an “awkward, little love story,” Lillian and Dan is so much more as it charts the gradual meeting and courtship between its titular duo. Shot in and around Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, the film follows these two extremely lonely souls — played by Gretchen Akers and Jason Kean — as they go about their days in near silence. Lillian is painfully shy. She is approached by smitten co-workers and encouraged to socialize by her sassy grandmother (played by the scene-stealing Lucy Quinn). Dan tries to muster the courage to engage with people, but he falls short and ends up gasping for basic syllables every time, which leads to embarrassment and even a bizarre street chase. Lillian and Dan first cross paths at a grocery store. The near-encounter sends them both home with something to aspire to. Dan dresses up in a suit and stalks the store’s aisle in search of his new mystery girl. Lillian devises a plan to host a “lil’ block party” and advertises it on the store’s community bulletin board. As fate would have it, Dan is the only person to accept the public invitation and their bond is cast with great reluctance and anxiety.
Finally, Lillian and Dan holds its drama to a point where for a character to just get a word out — let alone go for a kiss! — is a miracle. As Gibisser shows the challenges for these inhibited characters to make any sort of move on such a microscopic level (he works the camera and proves that he is certainly one of the finest cinematographers out there), the film accentuates the effort and grace behind the smallest of gestures. Hesitations and nearly imperceptible miscues come to feel balletic, and the tiniest of connections triumphant.
In the years since making Lillian and Dan, Gibisser released a second narrative feature starring Gretchen Akers, World of Facts (2018), and has continued to produce acclaimed non-narrative work. It is no surprise that Gibisser’s debut feature drew the attention of Frank V. Ross, who enlisted Gibisser as cinematographer on his two most recent films, Tiger Tail in Blue (2012) and Bloomin Mud Shuffle (2015). The filmmakers first met when Lillian and Dan and Ross’ Hohokam (2007) played at the Harvard Film Archive as part of the New American Independent Cinema series, curated by Ray Carney and Ted Barron, in 2007. “Mike’s instincts are that of a street photographer, catching those glances, that wants us to hear the story,” says Ross. “Luckily he’s a filmmaker and we get the story.”
Related: Read our review of World of Facts here
With 2023 marking the 15th anniversary of Finally, Lillian and Dan’s festival premiere, Gibisser’s debut feature remains a largely unknown milestone of modern independent filmmaking that continues to inspire some of our most promising and sensitive artists working outside the industry.
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