The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

London Film Festival 2015

Lucifer

London Film Festival 2015: Lucifer | Review
17 October 2015
Daniel Engelke
Avatar
Daniel Engelke
17 October 2015

Movie and show review

Daniel Engelke

Lucifer

★★★★★

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

Special event

Spiritual (not religious) film is few and far between in contemporary cinema. The subjects are too ethereal and the result takes nearly the entire running time to produce. Thus, the idea of Gust Van den Berghe’s fish-eye lens filmed Lucifer, shot in rural Mexico, is foreign in more ways than simply the language.

Bells ring and radio announcements inform village residents that a ladder has descended from the sky. Along with it came, what many believe is, an angel. Solitary and near-silent, this stranger befriends Lupita and Maria while exploring the countryside. Upon returning to their home, the man “heals” the legs of the bedridden Emanuel. Is this an omen of future miracles? The devout believers of the village, who have unsurprisingly increased in size since the first miracle, surely hope so. As this stranger becomes more of a familiar face, the relationships with Lupita and Maria grow deeper. These burgeoning connections, however, are not always the most saintly.

The small verdant world in Lucifer harks back to a different epoch. Not only the fish-eye lens, which gives a 70s sphere of observation, but also the tamed progress and presentation of a world isolated from contemporary convenience. Rather than find divinity in technology, the residents still look to signs from the heavens. The tempered dialogue is rife with subtext that begs for excavation. Yet the film is full of powerful images embroiled with vibrant mestizo colors, what appears on-screen is entertaining enough.

Lucifer not only presents the atmosphere of an older era, but also a forgotten form of cinema. Fans of Pasolini’s Theorema, Glauber Rocha, and even Bunuel, will find obvious allusions. Like these predecessors, director Van den Berghe seeks to edify the cultural prevalence of religion while exposing the reality beneath the faith. Succinctly, faith is a positive moral force, which is probably fictional, because humans will forever act on instinct. However, the thesis is resoundingly subtle and may not resonate with contemporary viewers as well as it did with 70s audiences.

Lucifer is an archaically beautiful film about spirituality and culture in rural Mexico. The story leaves viewers with a large landscape for interpretation, yet one that might be too vast.

★★★★★

Daniel Engelke

Lucifer does not have a UK release date yet.

For further information about the 59th London Film Festival visit here, and for more of our coverage visit here.

Watch the trailer for Lucifer here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Film festivals

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

“I think I’m kind of a drug addict for image and sound coming together! I’m always putting images to sound and getting high”: An interview with Hlynur Pálmason, director of Godland

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Watcher

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Resurrection

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Sharp Stick

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Leyla’s Brothers: An interview with Saeed Roustayi

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Plan 75: An interview with director Chie Hayakawa

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Falcon Lake: An interview with director Charlotte Le Bon

Selina Sondermann
Read More

“How to make a genuine portrait of life”: An interview with the stars of Leila’s Brothers

Selina Sondermann
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Daniel Engelke

Lucifer

★★★★★

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

Special event

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Brian and Charles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “We really wanted to create a cabbage gun”: An interview with David Earl and Chris Hayward stars of Brian and Charles
    Cinema & Tv
  • Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Adele lights up Hyde Park for BST Festival
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

London Film Festival 2015: Talvar (Guilty) | Review
London Film Festival 2015: Gold Coast | Review