Billie and Emma starts with archetypal characters and beautifully works its way beyond those confines. The full name of one of the titular characters is Emma Cagandahan (Gabby Padilla). Her name literally means servant of beauty. She’s the model student in an all girl Catholic school in a rural Filipino town. Emma then has to deal with a new student, Isabel ‘Billie’ Santos (Zar Donato). Billie used to live in Manila but her family exiled her to the sticks to separate her from her girlfriend. The perky Emma and the shy Billie can’t be any more different, but a school project draws them together. Together, they also realize what sets them apart from the rest of the townsfolk. This is especially true for Emma, whose boyfriend Miguel (Ryle Paolo Santiago) gets her pregnant.

There’s a clarity to writer-director Samantha Lee and cinematographer Mycko David’s film making. This is a welcome change from either the gritty or the glossy extremes of Filipino cinema. Being in the middle of those extremes help. It contributes, in its own little way, to the Philippines’ rich history of politically conscious movies. Emma, being the bi curious pregnant girl, is the locus of that political change. What she and therefore the movie does is progressive even though her ambivalence is slightly frustrating.

Nonetheless, Lee’s clarity and sense of humor helps point out the surreal details of Billie and Emma’s world. The school project they have to do, by the way, is for religion class. The teacher, Miss Castro (Cielo Aquino) paired her students up and gave them eggs. Lee builds different and interesting subplots that involve both Miss Castro and the eggs. I don’t want to spoil any story lines and jokes. Audiences will just have to see this film and discover its quirky sensibilities.