Luka

  • 94'
  • Belgium
  • 2023

Determined to do his utmost to protect his homeland from ever-imminent invasion, young Luka – a talented sniper – makes the lengthy trek from region 27 north to Fort Kairos, an outpost on the Steppe where the General and her council maintain guard against the pending onslaught from the North.

In this desolate industrial complex, fear of an attack that never seems to come by an enemy that perhaps does not exist has morphed into a sort of serene paranoia. Military training has congealed, becoming a series of bizarre, animalistic rituals; punishment for minor infractions ranges from shovelling excrement to death by thirst. When at last there is dim evidence that the North is mobilising its troops, it becomes apparent that dogma now trumps truth, compassion and common sense.

Geraldine Chaplin's twisted General is just one stand-out among uniformly excellent performances, which are underscored by threatening black-and-white cinematography and precisely unnerving sound design. Obliquely tinged with the conjured terrors of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and the rapturous brotherly love of Jean Genet's Un chant d'amour (1950), Jessica Woodworth's take on Dino Buzzati's much-lauded The Tartar Steppe crafts a fantasy of post-truth lunacy that perhaps reflects today more closely than is comfortable.

 

Nicholas Davies

Director
Jessica Woodworth
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
94'
Medium
DCP
Language
English
Producers
Peter Brosens, Maarten D'Hollander, Tim Martens, Diana Elbaum, Flaminio Zadra, Pilar Saavedra Perrotta, Denis Vaslin, Fleur Knopperts, Stefan Kitanov, Mira Staleva, Anzhela Frangyan
Production Companies
Bo Films, Krater Films, Beluga Tree, Palosanto Films, Volya Films, Art Fest, Dokino
Sales
Films Boutique
Screenplay
Jessica Woodworth
Cinematography
Virginie Surdej
Editor
David Verdurme
Production Design
Sabina Christova
Sound Design
Marc Lizier
Music
Teho Teardo
Cast
Jonas Smulders, Geraldine Chaplin, Samvel Tadevossian, Jan Bijvoet, Sam Louwyck, Django Schrevens, Hal Yamanouchi
Local Distributor
De Filmfreak
Director
Jessica Woodworth
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
94'
Medium
DCP
Language
English
Producers
Peter Brosens, Maarten D'Hollander, Tim Martens, Diana Elbaum, Flaminio Zadra, Pilar Saavedra Perrotta, Denis Vaslin, Fleur Knopperts, Stefan Kitanov, Mira Staleva, Anzhela Frangyan
Production Companies
Bo Films, Krater Films, Beluga Tree, Palosanto Films, Volya Films, Art Fest, Dokino
Sales
Films Boutique
Screenplay
Jessica Woodworth
Cinematography
Virginie Surdej
Editor
David Verdurme
Production Design
Sabina Christova
Sound Design
Marc Lizier
Music
Teho Teardo
Cast
Jonas Smulders, Geraldine Chaplin, Samvel Tadevossian, Jan Bijvoet, Sam Louwyck, Django Schrevens, Hal Yamanouchi
Local Distributor
De Filmfreak