2021-08-11
N/A
103 min
Johannes, an innocent, Kaspar Hauser-like man with the heart of a child, lives secluded in an alpine hut together with his eagle and his devout mother. Daily life in this isolated world is governed by prayer and ritual. But suddenly, modern objects and disruptive noises intrude between nature and worship. A tourist development threatens to poison their paradise and awaken the devil.
Austrian movies have a very particular way to be and "Luzifer" does not escape to the rule. 25% drama, 25% Thriller, 50% folk psychologic drama. This one was directed and written by Peter Brunner, a filmmaker (this is his 4th movie) and musician. The movie have both the characteristic of a parable between innocence and fury (especially the last one is seen in the scenes of self-martyrization)..
This could be easily one of arthouse A24 movies - very unique in the way it tells the story and show the images, getting some resemblance in the "folk terror" sprawled across all the movie weirdness and the way the characters acts (it have some resemblance in feeling with "Lamb" , 2021 by A24 in that side without the fantasy part.
It tells the story of an adult man in his 30 to 40's, literally with the mind of an 8 year boy, without the concept of death firm in his head that lives in a remote hut in an isolate Mountain range in Austria. His mother (a widow) had some problems with alcoholism, being clean from it since she married him (that died in an unknown time before).
She raises the man-boy in a humble shack with little use of modern technology by the means of an electricity generator, and both have cellphones for the small talking with people outside.
She is resisting skying companies that are cutting the holy lands were she and her son inherit and don't want to sell, while being bullied and harassed by them, especially by drones that comes from a hole high in a mountain that she calls "hell".
All seems to be very normal reading here, but I assure it it isn't - the way of life they have is the strangest hardcore early Christian (and yes, Austria is one of the main Catholic countries in the world) mixed with heavy Natural Pagan ways to interact with each other and the nature around them. Almost no line of dialog of them makes sense.
The cinematography by Peter Flinckenberg is very haunting, again similar to "Lamb", but darker in the use of shadows, light, fog and composition and by itself something to see. The same about the OST, almost non-existent and consisted of sober sounds made by acclaimed electronic musician Peter Flinckenberg (from "Infinity Pool").
At some point the aggressiveness of the company reaches the top that it cans forcing his mother in alcoholism again, sickness and death, then realized in it's full form by her son.
