‘Water Lilies’ and the Journey of Identity - Movie Review
A gentle coming of age story, Water Lilies takes its time in exploring what it’s like to be a young girl trying to make sense of her sexuality in a heteronormative world.

In wartime Britain, a Lord permitted unused land on Cornwall’s Rame Peninsula to be built on. Tiny chalets appeared, each as individual as its owner, and the community of Freathy came to life. In 2016, with Cornwall’s tourism industry booming, the Lord’s estate announced that they own everything the residents have built over generations. The community were offered the chance to buy their own homes at an extortionate price – most were unable to pay. A ticking time bomb of eviction begins.
A gentle coming of age story, Water Lilies takes its time in exploring what it’s like to be a young girl trying to make sense of her sexuality in a heteronormative world.
Desi’s “straight man” to Lucy’s playful exuberance subverted people’s expectations of what a Latino man could be and added respect and nuance to the way onscreen marriages between men and women were portrayed.
In addition to the cast being delightfully diverse this time around, the film was just loosely-plotted and action-packed enough to keep a casual fan like myself entertained. While I do agree that the writing of Cole left much to be desired for an original character thrust into a preconceived universe, none of the characters seemed particularly fleshed out in terms of personality; however, I think that's to be expected when you're watching a film literally inspired by a video game.
It took writers D.B Weiss and David Benioff two years to give us a promising final season. Two. Years. It was just going to be six episodes, which was short considering that all the other seasons — except season 7 — were 10 episodes. 10. 6 wasn’t enough, and even HBO wanted to give the writers more episodes. More seasons, even. However, the writers wanted to get out of the show as quickly as possible to work on other projects. This abruptness is clearly shown in this season.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning musical translates beautifully to the screen.
Narnia, Avengers: Doomsday, Jumanji 3 are some compelling ones! Some of the biggest 2026 movies tied to popular franchises, books, video games, comics, and existing series. Marvel and DC, Disney and Pixar.