With mastery and flair, Alex Camilleri crafts a delicate, intimate drama looking at the heritage of Maltese fishermen, anchored by a magnetic non-actor’s performance.
The 2021 Sundance Film Festival is currently in full swing! As part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, we have watched Luzzu, a proud Maltese production led by talented director-editor Alex Camilleri.
Luzzu chronicles the evolution of the traditional fishing industry in Malta from an intimate perspective. Director Alex Camilleri had ben spending time with Maltese fishermen for a couple of years before they became actors in his film. In Luzzu, the director crafted an intimate, heartfelt drama about Jesmark whose life is set up for major changes when his wooden luzzu boat contends with a newfound leak and as he struggles to support his young family.
Witnessing his family barely getting by pushes Jesmark to slip into illegal fishing practices until he accepts to face his new reality. Like in a Ken Loach movie, the director gives us a vivid sense of life beyond the frame, a knowledge that the characters all have their own stories. Echoing his work on the touching Keep The Change which he edited, Alex Camilleri does not judge any of his characters. He loves them, even when Jesmark is somewhat forced to engage in an illicit black-market fishing operation. What the director shows here is that his characters are caught inside a giant machine that leads their traditions to inevitably fade away. The result is a delicate and powerful drama about the daily lives of some ordinary humans forced to make difficult decisions.
What is more, the film is anchored by an irresistible performance by the lead actor. The smoulderingly impassive Jesmark Scicluna delivers a magnetic performance which ignites the screen and commands our attention. Surrounded by a mix of actors and other non-actors, they all give a brilliantly naturalistic performance and create a beautiful harmony. Even though Jesmark is the opposite of exuberant, his love for his luzzu vessel and for his son are tangible. With mastery and flair, Maltese-American filmmaker Alex Camilleri manages to suggest the presence of a soul in Jesmark’s luzzu. In front of the luzzu’s eyes, Jesmark must decide what to do with this heritage. Should he pass the fishermen’s tradition on to his son or adapt to the new reality? There, the film poignantly captures the sense that Jesmark’s luzzu has become a piece of a bygone era.
Finally, the film is visually stunning and beautifully captures the frustration and pain of Jesmark, as well as the colorful landscapes of Malta.
Through this intimate, heartfelt drama, audiences have the opportunity to observe up close the contemporary struggles of Maltese fishermen, as well as the birth of a promising director.
