I’m sure that some people will fawn over Lukas The Strange and pity those who don’t view it as a staggeringly wonderful work of art. Well, in that case, I’ll take that pity. I’d much prefer to be pitied than to pretend that I enjoyed this clumsy, needlessly uncomfortable mess of a movie.
The plot starts off simply, albeit muddled, with a young boy named Lukas being abandoned by his father (who he finds out is a tikbalang, a half-horse creature) just as a film crew arrives in his small town and causes quite a commotion for everyone. The movie being made is where the one interesting element arrives, with the film within the film running alongside and weaving through reality. The film being made is all about a river that can remove any specific memory that people no longer want. When they get to the other side they will have a scar, but not the troubling memory. This could be a good thing, but it could also be something abused and corrupted, like most good things.
Director John Torres (who also co-wrote the script with TWO other people, Sherad Anthony Sanchez and Dodo Dayao) really does his best to cover his ass here, but I’m just not buying it. The movie often looks horrible, but that’s because it was shot, for the most part, on expired 35mm stock (according to the blurb in the EIFF 2013 catalogue). There are times when the ghosted imagery comes close to creating a decent atmosphere and working for the movie, but things never quite come to fruition. And then there’s the audio work, which is the needlessly uncomfortable part I mentioned. At first I thought there were some problems with the speaker system in the cinema, but no. It’s just the sound design, with added noises almost like a vinyl crackle accompanying most of the voiceover narration.
The movie stars Cheeno Ladera Dalog, Edilberto Marcelino, Tao Aves and a few others, but I don’t feel able to judge their performances. Apart from the narration, the rest of the film seems to have dialogue and other audio just dubbed over whatever scenes have been filmed. The whole thing feels very much like a blend of What’s Up, Tiger Lily? and Tabu without the care or entertainment value of either.
I’m sure if I took some more time to dig really deep I could be slightly more generous to Lukas The Strange, but I’m not going to. The movie doesn’t deserve any more of my time and it doesn’t deserve any of your time either. One to avoid.
DIRECTOR: JOHN TORRES
WRITER: JOHN TORRES, SHERAD ANTHONY SANCHEZ, DODO DAYAO
STARS: CHEENO LADERA DALOG, EDILBERTO MARCELINO, TAO AVES
RUNTIME: 82 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: PHILIPPINES
Film Rating: 
