Fantasia '18 Film Review - Luz

Having an interrogation of a demon in a police station may be the least unusual occurrence in director Tilman Singer's first feature Luz. A Chilean cab driver (Luana Velia) walks into a German police station showing signs of trauma after having been in an accident. It also appears that her passenger  Nora( Julia Riedler) a childhood friend from Chile who was in the cab has disappeared.  In a moments before scene Nora targets psychologist Dr. Rossini (Jan Bluthardt) in a bar, they have a drink then move to the bathroom where the former transfers a beam of light based energy to the later. Rossini receives a call to come to the police station to be part of the questioning of Luz that comes as no surprise to Nora.

A big part of the film is the subsequent interview by Rossini of Luz. Bertillon (Nadja Stubiger) pays close attention as lead investigator. Olarte (Johannes Benecke) watches from a sound both as translator/ recorder of the proceedings. Dr. Rossini relays on hypnosis to learn more about the events leading to a bizarre recount of details mixed with fantastic events unfolding in the conference room of the near empty police station.

Singer completed the project as her film studies thesis project. It is highly experimental relying heavily on the viewer's imagination to fill in the gaps of what occurs on screen. Her lead character continually reports a blasphemous mantra so appalling that the translator Olarte refuses to translate the Spanish version to German. Spirits appear to jump from person to person with the pace moving rapidly forward when Luz literally puts her foot down on an imaginary gas pedal of a mock-up of her cab using four chairs as stand-ins for seats.

Luz is an exorcism / inquisition set in the most unusual of settings. There is not the standard speaking in tongues, head spins or lashing out at cross-wielding, clergy interrogators. Instead, director Tillman Singer uses a softer approach exploring the psychological aspects of demonic possession. The results are just as horrifying and suspenseful told in a tight package with a modest 70 minute run time packaged with a grainy late 60's early 70's Italian cinema feel.

*** Out of 4.

Luz | Tilman Singer | Germany | 2018 | 70 Minutes.

Tags: Taxi Driver, Possession, Demon, Psychologist, Hypnosis, Interrogation, Police Station, Experimental Film.