Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

tsimshotsui When it comes to LGBT films, tragedy and loneliness and death are the main narratives being put out there. But in this particular movie, those three elements aren't because of their sexual orientation. This movie is kind of a gem. It handles sex work and sex workers well, doesn't dehumanize them. There is even a character representing men who consume said content and yet feel like they can 'save' the person. That was all amazingly handled. Another side of the story is death by tragedy, and the permanent trauma it caused on a family member. One of the main characters are tied down by their guilt, their sense of responsibility. I definitely think I would've rated this lower if the heaviness didn't end with some light, so thankfully it did.

webmaster-3017 A beautiful, yet unfulfilled romance… It seems that Taiwanese cinema is finally re-establishing in a manner of art house flicks. With Silk, Eternal Summer and now Spider Lilies, there is no question of doubt that Taiwanese directors are wonderful talents. While Spider Lilies seem rather commercial on the cover of the artwork, with the cute-eyed Raine Yang and the almost unrecognisable Isabella Leong, there is little questioning that it attracted a lot of a certain gender's attention. Full credit must be given to Isabella, who has now taken a path to a career stepwise an inch closer to Best Actress glory, with 2005's Isabella and now this. With that being said, Spider Lilies is certainly a beautiful film to watch and the constant cuteness of Raine is always going to add further viewing points, but the film ultimately remains slightly lacking and leaving the audience rather unfulfilled.The movie goes like this: Rainie Yang plays cute web cam girl Jade, who wants to get a tattoo to attract her online clients. She visits the tattoo parlor run by Takeko (Isabella Leong), and immediately remembers Takeko to be her childhood crush. Jade sees a stunningly beautiful spider lily pattern on Takeko's wall. She pleads Takeko to tattoo that on her body as "a mark of love", without knowing how special this poisonous flower means to Takeko. Takeko pretends to have forgotten Jade, but there are actually traumatic experiences that Takeko can never forget...Director Zero is no stranger to queer movies and apparently won the Taiwanese Best Director Award for some film called Splendid Float. Here, Zero seamlessly plays the film like a normal film and making the lesbian scenes all the more natural without a tick of queerness. Perhaps it is due to the pretty face of Raine who performs well enough to be acclaimed as an underrated performance. However, the real star of the show is really Isabella. Perhaps it is due to her make up or whatever; Isabella is acted like an accomplished actress beaming with confidence. Neo is daring to say that Isabella is an outside chance to be the next Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk. At times, Neo felt as though he is watching someone else, a real TB (tomboy) and now that's a compliment.Still, director Zero struggles to create something more, something deeper and something more relevant. It is a shame that the built up and structure seems so promising and along with the photogenic faces, one can only wish Zero should have done more. When the film reaches its conclusion, it fails to answers most of the questions that it initially raised, which only further hampers the film.Needless to say, the film is beautiful filmed and the lighting and use of colours are amazingly beautiful to endure. However, Spider Lilies come up rather short of its lofty ambitions and the result is an unfulfilled movie and leaving the audience wanting a lot more. Aside from these short comings, it is almost impossible to resist the moment when Raine kisses Isabella and their steamy hot sequence. Without being bias from a male perspective, the film does attempt to say something about memories. Perhaps it is true that it is human nature to remember the moments and people that they like and choose to forget moments that they do not want to remember. While, Neo can relate to the aforementioned line, the film fails to capitalize on any real issue and once again comes up falling short. Then again, any of that is unlike to deter the fans of the ultra cute – Raine Yang…I rate it 7.5/10www.thehkneo.com

countymd The Spider Lilies has a deep content. It talks about how much people can remember the past and continue to pursue it. Leong is trapped in what happened in the past whereas Yeung is also trapped by her own past. The fate brought these 2 together and helped each other to build their future together from the past they shared. The story is strong but the acting is kind of weak. Not much chemistry between these two. There is not much going on when they get intimate with each other. It is not convincing the two share the same passion. I guess that is the major drawback in the film. It was sweet and bitter when the film showed their past. There is actually more emotion involved and more convincing with their past. Overall, it is a nice movie to watch.

JW CHIANG G/SRAT strongly recommends a new Taiwan lesbian (nutongzhi) film "Spider Lilies". This film will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival February 11, 2007. We hope you will encourage any friends who might be in Berlin to attend the premiere. This is Taiwan's lesbian director Zero Chou's new film. It portrays the love of and between two lesbians, evoking the hopes and hurts of everyone. It is a film remarkable in its fearless, unwavering representation of lesbian emotions while plumbing the depths of everyday lives. The film is further marked by the director's unpretentious concern for people on the margins of society and her humane yet piercing perspective on life.Spider Lilies (2007) – Do as you desire Reviewed by G/SRAT Spider lily is a flower that grows along the path to the gates of hell; it is a tattoo; it is a way of remembering and forgetting; it registers varied experiences of love and trauma.Everyday rituals are a way of du. Du is crossing over the river to the other side; it is also crossing through life to death and one's next life, over and over again. Storytelling through creative ritual action works through suffering that cannot otherwise be overcome (either in remembering or forgetting) in life. The film shows us how ritual storytelling and actions in different forms – webcam blogging, tattooing, getting tattooed, chatting under the guise of police entrapment – allows for crossing over to the other side, in life, and in death. Spider Lilies helps us see how different people have different ways of doing (or du-ing) – acting out, acting upon and acting through their desires, and therefore crossing through trauma to arrive at the other side, where one is no longer imprisoned within suffering but can live with it, having lived through it. It thus suggests to us ways in which we could do (or du) our own impasses.Everyone is non-normative, and must learn to du/do through different actions/stories. In the world of the film, violence and trauma are banal and special at the same time. No one is exempt from this everyday violence and trauma, no one is normal and without flaw. Through this film, all normative positions are under question. Non-normative roles on the other hand are represented in ways that subvert expectations. In Spider Lilies everyday trauma in two lesbian lives becomes the context and condition of their relation to each other. One of the lesbians obsessively remembers her first love at the early age of nine, and is courageous and forthright in pursuing a sign of love in the form of a spider lily tattoo. The other cannot forget early traumas nor can she remember or begin anything else, but finds a way to tell the stories for which there can be no words in her work as a tattoo artist. The film's view of its characters and their situations is a bit like the blind grandma's, fondly amused, and never judgmental. The tattoo is an allegory of cinema: as ritual that allows a crossing through, as a picture that grows, moves and penetrates its subjects, as a story told through pictures that reflect the past and help bring the future into being.