Finally, Lillian and Dan is almost a silent movie. Mike Gibisser’s awkward love story is presented less in words than through the characters’ facial expressions, gestures, and movements. Gibisser gets extraordinary performances from two first–time actors: Gretchen Akers’ (Lillian’s) face is more expressive than a thousand lines of dialogue. She makes even standing in a checkout line exciting. Lucy Quinn (who plays Akers’ grandmother and is played by Gibisser’s real–life grandmother) is just as terrific, and just as non–verbal. Her dancing and singing are as expressive as Akers’ face. Gibisser’s reliance on body language to tell his story is his way of staying true to the inarticulateness of his characters and to the reality of a love story that refuses to get sentimental.