The films in Pendance this year, I’m starting to notice, deal with intrusion as a concept, but then again duh, most films are about a character colliding into something one way or another. In Peter Brunner’s Luzifer‘s case, the protagonist, Johannes (Franz Rogowski) is an adult Austrian living in the snow covered mountains with his mother Maria (Susanne Jensen). The life they live in these mountains is not my kind of life. Regardless, that life gets a jolt when drones start flying next to their faces. When drones come, men who want to kick them out of their property follow.
Johannes and Maria are difficult roles. Adding to this degree of difficulty are Johannes’ neuro atypical nature and whatever sect or distortion of Christianity they follow. In fairness, both Jensen and Rogowski show their hard work every time the camera points at them although let’s be real, Rogowski can do no wrong with art house fans. Both can step up to any challenge a script cna throw at them as long as that script knows what it wants its characters to do. This script unfortunately doesn’t. If anything, it oversells the film’s religious angle in the laziest way.
The film captures mother and son and the landscape they live in. Landscapes are easier to pull off than human drama. The film does a lot of backflips when it comes to its camera work but it doesn’t stick the landing. Most of the camera movement here is great. But then there would be scenes that look like Brunner stuck a GoPro on Rogowski, making the latter’s acting decisions too big for the screen. Also, the drones and the men who follow aren’t the threats that the film promised they were. The same thing goes with Johannes’ supposed religious transformation.
- Release Date: 3/12/2022
