LUZ

I went into Luz clean. Since it was on Shudder I assumed it was a horror film. The poster art had a retro feel. I really knew no more than that.  I think it was a good choice.

Luz is weird. That's not a dig on the movie; it's a good kind of weird.  It has powerful influences and wears them with pride. It takes from somewhat esoteric sources and plays with them.

There's a hint of Kubrick , a dash of early era Cronenberg,  a lot of Panos Cosmatos. There's a dollop of Giallo and  a dusting of Lovecraft.

The cinematography has a formalism that transcends the genre. The composition is beautiful and unsettling.  The repeating rectangles that reframe shots are reminiscent of the way Kurosawa liked breaking his shots up in repeating triangles.

I was taken by the look of the thing. It looks like film, actual 35mm film and that gives a physicality to the images that is lacking in today's digital shooting.

I was also taken by the sound design.  It's dense and weird with ethereal static and echoes . This film sounds like something out of the 70s new wave.

I've been talking about this movie awhile and still haven't mentioned the plot.

This is a love story.  Luz is a taxi driver who drags herself into a police station while being pursued by a demon that is in love with her.  The demon has taken the shape of a psychiatrist. There are flashbacks or flashforwards to a cab ride. There is back story about what happened at the Catholic school Luz once attended.  It's pretty incoherent . That doesn't matter though.  This movie isn't about what it's about anyway.  This movie is about the ways that it is about those things and they are marvelous ways.

If you enjoyed Beneath the Black Rainbow,  you should see Luz right away.



-Nathan Tyree