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Sundance 2025 Review: LUZ

An ex-con attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter and a Hong Kong gallerist dealing with the impending death of her stepmother meet inside a VR world known as LUZ.

In between being an enforcer for a karaoke nightclub owner in Chongqing and having a relationship with one of the employees, an ex-con watches a streaming channel hosted by his estranged daughter; when he reveals his identity, she rebuffs the attempts to reconnect. The only other option for him is to try to orchestrate a virtual meeting via a VR world known as LUZ. The newbie to the technology gets mentored by an experienced player, a Hong Kong gallerist who travels to Paris to deal with the impending death of her ailing stepmother.

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The introduction to LUX starts with the opening credits which has graphics that resemble something from the 1970s. A surreal and mysterious deer appears which is a translucent mixture of pink tones that wanders around the neon-signed streets of Chongqing. Pixelation is utilized to indicate the shift between virtual to real world as well as the point of view shifts from first to third person. A funny moment occurs when the ex-con enters an establishment where LUZ users can be found doing movements that look extremely bizarre when taken out of context of the virtual realm.

Narratively the two storylines intersect via the virtual world which does emphasize how technology came bring people together; however, it is still a barrier to human intimacy. This is emphasized when the stepdaughter and stepmother are literally getting soaked by the oncoming tide as there is an authentic rather simulated feeling to their interaction with each other and their environment. The performances of Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Pinna and Xiao Dong Guo have soulfulness to them. As for the moments in LUZ, a B movie tone prevails which is jarring and the visual motif of the deer feels more surreal than deeply profound.

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 23 to February 2, 2025, in person and online, and for more information visit sundance.org.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.

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