Diana S
Experimental, opaque, and weird, which is my jam, though it's not everyone's.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
08/09/24
Full Review
Jeffrey P
Slow and vague but intriguing and creepy enough to make it mildly interesting until it becomes a completely distorted mess without explanation.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
03/24/24
Full Review
GM
If Only more filmmakers were like this.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
10/16/22
Full Review
Audience Member
Had me captivated the whole time. Great directing and acting.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Angelis L
You really have to stick with it but when I realised how it was gonna end and the what was happening and very importantly what had already happened I was excited to be right (much to the annoyance of my wife). Great storytelling, slow burning and great acting make this a unusual and surprising watch and now I'm gonna watch it again.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/26/21
Full Review
Audience Member
Whatever "Luz" is...there's no denying it's exceptional...
Oh, and just a head's up for those brave souls out there who are going to actually read my entire review – here's a little teaser of things to come: "Horror is the only genre that actually matters." (Je le pense vraiment!)
I could spend hours talking about this movie and still not even scratch the narrative surface or give you any idea what it's about – which, by the way, was clearly one of this debut writer/director's intent. If you're one of those people who docks points from a film's rating because you didn't understand it, I need to tell you something...lean in nice and close because you really need to hear this...ready? YOU ARE WATCHING MOVIES THE WRONG WAY (SOMEHOW) AND SHOULD STOP WATCHING YOUTUBE CHANNELS LIKE "CINEMA SINS" *DING* (it's an Existential Sin to even mention that online fountain of uninspired garbage content, hence the "ding.")
If you're still reading this review, BUT you have NO IDEA what in the world I just said about "watching movies the wrong way" or some stupid YouTube channel, then congratulations! (No, I'm being serious now. No more sarcasm.) You're one of the few people capable of appreciating the fact that art is...*what's the word....<snaps fingers>...SUBJECTIVE! There it is. I found it.
Art is subjective.
Which isn't the kind of thing you'd think would need to be explained to people, you know? So while I won't ask for forgiveness because of my aggressive and/or patronizing tone in this review, my over-the-top emotion – the fact that I seem to be taking it so personally while defending a film that's not (yet?) even been dismissed or attacked – should clue you in to just how strongly I feel about a short little Horror film called "Luz." Because "Luz" is an objectively GREAT film; the level of talent on display just from a technical perspective – remember this is the writer/director's DEBUT FEATURE FILM – is impressive enough to warrant such a positive reaction, (say 4 our of 5 stars or however you want to think about the metrics of [armchair] film criticism). So now you're wondering why my review gave it 5 stars if I just said the technical achievements alone warrant a 4/5 rating. Don't worry, baby birds! I'm about to feed you…
What cements "Luz" into that special tier of greatness when it comes to the way we value, celebrate, and commend such engaging pieces of art isn't difficult to explain or understand – for real, I'm being serious. While there is a sort of required amount of experience or understanding regarding all kinds of genres of film – none more important than Horror, of course – "Luz" remains *just barely* accessible enough to even the least equipped audience member, (one who knows nothing of the history of Horror cinema, or is even aware that the first film ever made was a Horror film – they don't even need to be aware of the fact – THE FACT! – that the single most influential, and therefore endlessly important, film of all time was, in fact, a horror film: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari").¹
So, maybe it doesn't qualify as "Art" since it's objectively great, which would make it something greater and more impressive than a nice piece of art. Whatever "Luz" is...there's no denying it's exceptional.
[1]: For anyone still super confused about why "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is being referenced, (especially buried so deep in a nest of dependent clauses – hah, silly English grammar stuff), please be fully apprised that you – yes, YOU! – reading this review are long over-due on a re-watch of the aforementioned 1921 German film. Because while you go back and re-watch that masterpiece, you will not only realize how many *critical* aspects of filmmaking were first used in the movie, (things that are still so thoroughly entrenched into the accepted visual language of most movies & TV shows). Cross-cutting. Flashbacks. Dream/Nightmare sequences. Unreliable narrator(s) and their attendant subjective perspectives that allow a fictional narrative's credulity to be scrutinized while at the same time manifesting itself as wholly "real" in the minds of the audience…shall I continue!?!? These so-called "simple things" had never been done before. But the reason they were able to exist were, of course, inextricably-linked sociopolitical forces in the real world during circa 1919-1920 in Germany. The oft-maligned Horror genre, as a matter of fact, (there's that word again: FACT), was the only way of these creative individuals to realize their anxieties, paranoias, and myriad states of mental exhaustion while still playing by the rules of Cinema and telling a coherent story to the audience. A story with characters – people, to be precise. Where it's difficult to know whether they are entirely pure evil, (or far less likely: entirely GOOD). Funny, that. How ONE movie was able to not only stand on its own as a timeless classic in the entirety of narrative filmmaking, but also use distortions of reality to communicate and express to the audience the kind of things that words will never be able to explain. SOME THINGS MUST BEE SEEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD. Thankfully we have the genre of Horror in our fictional toolbox for storytelling. Which is why so many of my reviews feature a little personal mantra, or refrain that I've come to find quite useful: "Horror is the only genre that actually matters." I doubt any learned person in the world would have an easy time challenging such a notion.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
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