Director Felipe Sorón has, until now, been known primarily for his work in theater, and it is in the careful touches around the periphery of his film debut that this pedigree is made apparent. From the outset, hints of the stage are suffused throughout Tiger Lilies of the Valley, brought to life thanks to Sorón's careful direction and the tightly-focused cinematography of Cantrapola alummnus Michel Leon.

Set in the aftermath of the Nuancuel Conflict and drenched in the sunflower fields, folk soundtrack, and hazy desperation of the era, Tiger Lilies follows the search of a young girl, played by Cassandra Serel-Fuchs, for her sister after the older girl disappears during the Nuancuel City riots in the conflict's last year. One might be forgiven for thinking this would be the stuff of a maudlin adventure, and it likely would be in the hands of a lesser director, but Sorón keeps the story at an intensely intimate distance from the nameless heroine.

Tension builds during the slow first act, featuring a stellar turn by Oliver Symmes as a security constable sympathetic to the rebel cause, and Serel-Fuchs packs emotion into subtle motions of the eye and a masterful use of breath on the sparse soundtrack as she navigates the fragmentation of her world. While much of the first hour of the film is given over to exposition and uneven pacing is only mostly helped along by the narrowing focus of Sorón's emotional lens and escalating sense of dread, the payoff comes in an emotional reunion of sorts that will likely be familiar to audiences acquainted with Sorón's work on stage.

With first-rate performances and a screenplay whose sincerity more than makes up for a halting tempo at the outset, Tiger Lilies of the Valley is a raw, captivating journey that audiences will leave the theater glad they've allowed Sorón to pull back the curtain on his stage-inspired wonder.

★★★½