Luz, La Fleur du Mal

What can I say. I love an art movie but this was a non starter of a movie.no hidden meaning,no hidden art,awful acting and a very worn and not very inventive story arc.terrible ending to boot.viewer be warned.

Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019) This Colombian film is a beautiful and scary work of art. The feature debut of Juan Diego Escobar Alzate who has done television work and short films previously, it is assured and bewitching. Taking place in the remote mountains. We are never sure where or when. One of the girls finds a cassette recorder in the woods, so it must be late 20th century or later. They live a primitive life, horses for transportation, no electricity, and no indoor running water. The community is basically a cult, run by El Señor. Besides his daughter and two other girls in his household, he has a boy chained in a pen outside. He says the boy is Jesus. But he has had other boys who didn't prove to be the Messiah. El Señor rules the community with an iron hand, but the girls are beginning to see through his prophet act. Other villagers are starting to stray in various ways. As real life intrudes, El Señor begins to lose control. And the boy in the pen definitely is not Jesus...

A beautiful, unsettling experience. Reminds one of The Witch, but I think this movie is probably better than that one. And the music was not only a lovely choice, but the narrative makes you think about what music really is and does.

Caught LUZ at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. I went into it hoping my most anticipated movie of the Festival would make the wait worth it. To say it did so is a vast understatement!! This movie is simply unbelievable. Some people won't like it. Some people will argue endlessly about all the possibilities and concepts raised. Me- I'm absolutely mesmerized by LUZ. Easily one of the most beautiful films, frame after frame after frame, that I've ever seen. Certainly one which is interested in weighty questions that have no true answers, except for what we make of them, and our world. I said it after the screening, I see lots of Terrence Malick in this incredible film, and Stanley Kubrick too. Amidst the gorgeous imagery, there are also scenes of savage brutality that tear right into the ideas & beliefs being explored. This is why I attend these Festivals! Thank you to director Juan Diego Escobar Alzate, and the whole team responsible for bring LUZ to life! Don't miss this one!!

Stylistically beautiful with an incredible colour palet and haunting score. It is a film to let wash over you; there are some very disturbing moments but it is not a jump scare horror, rather it is a slow immersion into a wonderfully unsettling experience.