Lily
Plot
'Lily' is a psychological thriller that takes an unsettling turn when it delves into the dark secrets behind a seemingly obscure discovery. Its narrative centers around 8-year-old Jack, a third-grader, whose daily life becomes a complex, nightmarish experience. At the beginning of Jack's story, his ordinary world shatters when he discovers a beautiful, albino Bengal tiger hiding in his school's bathroom. As news of the tiger spreads, Jack soon realizes that no one -- including his parents -- knows how the tiger ended up within the school. Faced with the uncertain nature of this situation, Jack's desire for truth becomes relentless. Confronted by the inconceivable presence of the rare, ghostly tiger, he is determined to unravel the mystery of Lily's past and why she's residing in his school's bathroom. Jack's research uncovers a captivating narrative about Lily's previous inhabitant, a 40-year-old woman who taught animal psychology at the school. The woman's affinity for animals only grew stronger with the passage of time, leading her to build a strange relationship with a tiger. However, Jack also discovered that the animal became increasingly aggressive once the woman encountered severe illness. Before long, Jack realises that Lily -- the young, female tiger he's befriended -- isn't an ordinary animal but a prime example of 'atavistic induction'. When people touched, cuddled, and trained the original female tiger, it became apparent that the tigers' genetics inadvertently activated. As a result, a rare occurrence that happened 150 years ago returned. Animal genetics merged with a human body. Subsequently, the woman in the story essentially converted into one of 'those' strange girls of whom one remains to this day - 'Lily.' Within this captivating narrative, emotions surface and feelings get entangled. It brings out a tangled web of a complex plot full of unexpected and disturbing undercurrents when Jack stumbles upon an inescapable dark truth about Lily and her background. Due to its unpredictable dynamic interplay of themes revolving around scientific and paranormal aspects, this story raises inevitable and uneasy suspicions that draw the audience into this surreal yet engrossing thriller. The 3rd act unravels dramatically once Jack is forced to confront the unsettling reality of Lily. This frightening feeling eventually arises once Jack finally gets accustomed to keeping the girl away from him, to ultimately reveal the most disturbing truth of them all - Jack himself is indeed one of those unfortunate witnesses who are also in touch with a human-animal hybrid life form. His sense of trauma gets worsened when he gets to discover a long-abandoned school, submerged in woods. As viewers, we encounter him confronting those who are well familiar with Lily, individuals at the end who possess inhuman physical traits. Engulfed by terror as revelations pile up, Jack's courage vanishes to allow his dark and terrifying secret to ultimately consume him, taking our grip tightly away from what eventually gets left behind - but also the dark idea raised from it of the fragile line between animals and humans.