Luz (2018)
August 12, 2024 3:36 PM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] Luz, a young cabdriver, drags herself into the brightly lit entrance of a run-down police station. Meanwhile, an intense and peculiar young woman corners an on-call doctor and begins to tell him a story. The debut feature from Tilman Singer (Cuckoo).
Starring Luana Velis, Jan Bluthardt, Julia Riedler, Nadja Stübiger, Johannes Benecke, Lilli Lorenz.
Written, directed, and co-produced by Tilman Singer.
Cinematography by Paul Faltz. Edited by Fabian Podeszwa, Tilman Singer. Music by Simon Waskow.
87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Shudder. JustWatch listing.
Starring Luana Velis, Jan Bluthardt, Julia Riedler, Nadja Stübiger, Johannes Benecke, Lilli Lorenz.
Written, directed, and co-produced by Tilman Singer.
Cinematography by Paul Faltz. Edited by Fabian Podeszwa, Tilman Singer. Music by Simon Waskow.
87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Shudder. JustWatch listing.
Letterboxd claims I watched this in 2020, but I remember not one single thing about it. I have a vague idea there's a scene where someone has electricity sucked out of their mouth? Or something? Or am I just mixing this up with The Lighthouse?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:52 AM on August 13
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:52 AM on August 13
I really liked this when it came out. Style and vibes galore, short and sweet. I don't remember being confused about anything, but I'm also scratching my head as to what the actual plot was, besides "possessed dude tries to possess girl, most likely succeeds." But it was definitely my jam. I've been waiting for Cuckoo since then.
posted by mrphancy at 9:57 AM on August 13 [1 favorite]
posted by mrphancy at 9:57 AM on August 13 [1 favorite]
This film is 100% "if something that is only nominally a feature could convince you that a filmmaker is good based solely on vibes..."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:30 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:30 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
I liked this! It was deeply weird, confusing, and YET. But DOT is right, this is super duper vibes-based.
Shepherd, on the other hand, was like, "If this was supposed to make me want to see Cuckoo more, that did not work."
posted by Kitteh at 8:15 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]
Shepherd, on the other hand, was like, "If this was supposed to make me want to see Cuckoo more, that did not work."
posted by Kitteh at 8:15 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]
2/5 story, 4/5 vibes for me.
I was immensely distracted by the fact that the title character was dressed like she was in a dinner theatre production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Situations like this, I don't know whether the story is intentionally vague because Auteur, or if the filmmaker just isn't good at story, or if maybe they are David Lynching and it all seems perfectly clear to them and it's baffling that we can't see it.
To the best I can figure, a sexually blossoming Luz convinced a bunkmate in Roman Catholic school that she was pregnant and that the pregnancy needed to be "exorcised" for whatever reason; said exorcism actually brought a demon in instead of kicking one out (since there was no demon to kick out), and since then there's been a body-hopping demon working its way to Luz, who it finally catches up to in a police station via a police-affiliated psychiatrist. Lots of vibes-related possession and fog and Luz sometimes sees the exorcism victim in place of the person the demon is possessing. Little Bald Sound Guy catches on too late and the demon, now firmly anchored in Luz, is set loose on the world because Giant Lady Cop is too possessed to stop her. Booya.
I'm still game for Cuckoo, just adjusting my expectations for coherence way down.
Still 1000x better than Skinamarink, which continues to make me vaguely mad when I think about it.
posted by Shepherd at 10:47 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]
I was immensely distracted by the fact that the title character was dressed like she was in a dinner theatre production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Situations like this, I don't know whether the story is intentionally vague because Auteur, or if the filmmaker just isn't good at story, or if maybe they are David Lynching and it all seems perfectly clear to them and it's baffling that we can't see it.
To the best I can figure, a sexually blossoming Luz convinced a bunkmate in Roman Catholic school that she was pregnant and that the pregnancy needed to be "exorcised" for whatever reason; said exorcism actually brought a demon in instead of kicking one out (since there was no demon to kick out), and since then there's been a body-hopping demon working its way to Luz, who it finally catches up to in a police station via a police-affiliated psychiatrist. Lots of vibes-related possession and fog and Luz sometimes sees the exorcism victim in place of the person the demon is possessing. Little Bald Sound Guy catches on too late and the demon, now firmly anchored in Luz, is set loose on the world because Giant Lady Cop is too possessed to stop her. Booya.
I'm still game for Cuckoo, just adjusting my expectations for coherence way down.
Still 1000x better than Skinamarink, which continues to make me vaguely mad when I think about it.
posted by Shepherd at 10:47 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]
This is one where, on Letterboxd, I gave it a low rating, but also a heart. Because it didn't really work for me, but it was obvious talent was at work.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:09 PM on August 15
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:09 PM on August 15
Watched this today and thought it was really remarkably lit and shot, especially knowing that it was “just” a student film. Everyone in the cast was tonally spot-on and the soundtrack was killer. Definitely riding on vibes, but I thought the story was completely clear. I would happily watch a movie like this every weekend and then go out to dinner to pick it apart with friends!
I was immensely distracted by the fact that the title character was dressed like she was in a dinner theatre production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Ha! On this week’s episode of Bloodhaus podcast they noted that Luz was dressed as taxi-driving Winona Ryder in Night On Earth. I leave it to the reader to determine whether this has any meaning within in the film, or if it’s just that you don’t get to be a production designer for a 70s/80s-thriller-homaging low-budget film without being a deep cataloger of Gena Rowlands movies.
posted by bcwinters at 2:15 PM on August 19
I was immensely distracted by the fact that the title character was dressed like she was in a dinner theatre production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Ha! On this week’s episode of Bloodhaus podcast they noted that Luz was dressed as taxi-driving Winona Ryder in Night On Earth. I leave it to the reader to determine whether this has any meaning within in the film, or if it’s just that you don’t get to be a production designer for a 70s/80s-thriller-homaging low-budget film without being a deep cataloger of Gena Rowlands movies.
posted by bcwinters at 2:15 PM on August 19
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Stacks of images that could be from a great film, and some terrific scenes, too. But it doesn't coalesce into much. You can see someone talented is at work here, but this didn't land.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:37 PM on August 12 [2 favorites]