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Lies Beneath The Surface

Name: Lies Beneath The Surface
Director: Jose Montesinos
Released: 2022
Duration: 90 min

Representation Score

3.1/10

Limited

2022

TV-PG

Director

Jose Montesinos

Runtime

90 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Lies Beneath The Surface is a genre-driven survival thriller that prioritizes tension over identity politics. It avoids regressive clichés but lacks deep investment in multi-layered storytelling. The film finds its strength in centering women's ability to drive the story. Hanna is an active participant in the conflict rather than a passive observer, which elevates gender representation. However, the work is largely silent on racial, religious, and LGBTQ+ dimensions. It functions as a character-driven thriller that focuses on the friction between individual intuition and institutional failure.

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Category Breakdown

Does Lies Beneath The Surface have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not include visible LGBTQ+ identities or same-sex relationships. There are no narratives that question the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does Lies Beneath The Surface portray gender?

Fair

Hanna is a proactive female protagonist who drives the plot through her intelligence and actions. This portrayal of women's ability to drive the story offers a moderate level of representation.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Lies Beneath The Surface?

Minimal

The narrative does not provide specific information about the racial or ethnic backgrounds of the characters. The focus remains on the situational tension of the setting.

How does Lies Beneath The Surface represent religion and culture?

Good

The story challenges institutional trust by depicting authorities as dismissive of a citizen's concerns. This critiques the reliability of traditional social structures and frameworks of order.

Does Lies Beneath The Surface include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not include characters with visible or invisible disabilities. The plot does not address neurodivergence or chronic illness.

Present on Screen

The film centers women's ability to drive the story, portraying Hanna as an active, intelligent driver of the plot.
The narrative effectively critiques institutional reliability by showing authorities dismissing legitimate concerns.

Limited or Absent

The film lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-cisgender gender expressions.
There is a notable absence of racial, ethnic, or disability-related character depth.

Official Synopsis

Hanna notices some suspicious activity at a nearby cabin while she's kayaking by herself in a remote lake. Believing the woman and her daughter staying there might be in danger, she notifies the authorities. After the authorities find nothing wrong or unusual, they brush off Hanna. When she looks in on them, it sets off a deadly cat-and-mouse game of survival.

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