I once asked my very close friend Sanjay Leela Bhansali why Indian films use so much background music. Is it because they fear silences? Do they fear the fact that audiences, if not led into a scene by the music, would simply wander away?
Luzzy a lyrical luminous Maltese film , suffers from no performance anxieties. To call it brave would be patronizing. To call it fearless would be stating the obvious. To call it a masterpiece would be close to the truth. It is a film that is not charmed by its own excellence. The first—time director Alex Camilleri’s deep and incisive exploration of the culture of fishery in Malta is buoyed by a purpose of purity that goes far beyond the call of duty.
Of course a filmmaker must attempt to make cinema that reflects on life. Luzzu is that rarity which transcends the boundaries of cinema. The film talks to us in a language that is so authentic , we are not listening to what the characters are saying. We are listening to what they mean by their words.
Like Joachim Lafosse’s The Restless, Luzzu is about a nuclear family coping with an illness. This time it is a little baby boy . Fisherman Jesmark(Jesmark Scicluna) and his wife Denise(Michela Farrugia) are told by the doctor that their newly-born baby suffers from a rare eating disorder and that he would require special care.
Special care means extra expenditure. With his hand-to-mouth existence what is Jesmark supposed to do? Sell himself? Sell his body parts? Sell out to the crime syndicate of the fishing industry in Malta?As Jesmark opts for the last option we see a man so desperate to protect his family that he would do anything.
Jesmark Scicluna’s fisherman’s act is so scarily real it is as though we are watching a meditative documentary on the fishing industry in Malta. The film is sparse, sinewy, deep and layered, providing the thinking audience with a fertile food for thought.
It comes as no surprise to know that the actor playing Jesmark is not an actor but a real fisherman. Only the one staring into the abyss from the outside can fully understand what it means to be staring in the face of impoverishment.
His wife too is starkly played by Michela Farrugia. I have not seen the work of either actor earlier . But I would like to know if Scicluna can play a non-fisherman just as well? I am sure he can. It is not about WHOM he plays but HOW he plays it that makes this performance so self effacingly underscored by brilliance.
The breathtaking cinematography(by Léo Lefèvre) looks at the deceptively calm sea with the cautious wonderment of a man close to Nature yet intimidated by its unpredictability. The rituals and routines of a fishing village are adeptly captured. The boat is seen as a sacred shrine to a divine vocation. When Jesmark is forced to sell it we know won’t survive the onslaught of despair that has clenched his family.
He must bear the taunts of wealthy mother-in-law. But he must not show his contempt for wealth. It is money makes the world go around.
