Luz (2019)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Cab Wounds

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Tilman Singer's Luz, from Germany, is one of the stranger horror movies in recent years, more of an impression than an experience, easier to watch than to describe. A young woman cab driver named Luz (Luana Velis) walks into a police station and starts saying strange things. Meanwhile, a man in a bar, Dr. Rossini (Jan Blurhardt) attracts the attention of a woman, Nora (Julia Riedler), who discovers that he's a psychotherapist, tells him weird stories and buys him odd-looking drinks. Then the man, disoriented, receives a page and goes to work. Luz is in a large room where a woman sits at a desk and a man sits in a recording booth. The doctor arranges a few chairs and hypnotizes Luz, and then she re-creates (I think) the events of earlier in the evening while driving her cab. (To be honest, Luz reminded me a little of Winona Ryder's "Corky" from Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth.) Then it gets really bizarre. Singer shoots on 16mm and allows bits of dust and wear to show on his images, and his wide, chilly staging and rhythms are meant to recall some of the edgier, moodier horror movies of the 1970s, likely those by David Cronenberg and Dario Argento, rather than any jump-scares or blood or screaming. The 70-minute running time is exactly right, bringing it closer to the realm of experimental horror than anything mainstream. If something like Berberian Sound Studio is more your cup of tea than, say, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, then give Luz a whirl.