Leonor Will Never Die

The film has heart... Plus the clever layering of movies within movies is exquisite — and a closing dance routine isn’t too shabby either.

The fun-time larks wear a tad thin by the end, but this is a stellar calling card for Escobar.

There’s an array of twists and turns as the film toggles back and forth between levels of reality, playing with film-making conventions with insouciant glee.

Playful yet philosophical, Escobar’s clever and touching feature sneaks up on you, revealing far deeper, more complex intentions than you’d suspect.

As “Leonor Will Never Die” parties to its close, Escobar reminds us that while life is unerringly finite, cinema is the complicated, messy, riotous love affair that never has to end.

Although its ambitions often exceed its reach, the meta-mad Filipino film Leonor Will Never Die bursts with imaginative impulses, scoring slightly more hits than misses.

The end result can be a little messy and haphazard, but it is impossible not to be whisked away by the boundless energy and creativity on show throughout Leonor Will Never Die.

Leonor Will Never Die wears its playful sweetness as a badge. It glistens with a lustrous sheen tinged by the colorful past of Filipino action films and pays homage to the emancipative wonders of storytelling.

Leonora Will Never Die is an unclassifiable meta-mixture of a fantasy pastiche of the schlock ’70s action movies that Leonora used to write.

Leonor Will Never Die is a movie pure in heart even when it falters.