Transparency is not an absence of substance, but the capacity to allow oneself to be traversed by light, time, and the suspended trajectories of life. In a contemporary visual landscape all too often saturated with freeze-dried, sanitised digital aesthetics, ‘Lu’ — the short film conceived by director Bianca Poletti as a proof of concept for a feature film — asserts itself as a visceral manifesto of vulnerability and analogue aesthetics. Shot on 35mm Kodak film stock amidst the dusty, magnetic atmospheres of Mexico City (CDMX), the project transcends the simple function of a cinematic test, transforming into an intimate exploration of identity, memory, and the roots that shape who we become.
Shaping this aesthetic universe is Leo Calzoni’s cinematography, which captures the dense grain of the film stock with a tactile, almost painterly sensibility. The visual imagery breathes an immediate emotional clarity: a solitary silhouette framed against the beam of light from an ajar doorway, the cathartic gesture of an arm resting outside a car window on a drive towards the horizon, and the twilight reflections shimmering in the glass of a quiet diner. It is a visual grammar that engages in an intimate dialogue with the poetic solitude of auteur road movies, evoking the visual melancholia of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas alongside the contemplative geometries of Jim Jarmusch’s cinema.
At the narrative’s core is the encounter between two generations of musicians attempting to piece together their fractured pasts, portrayed with a raw, magnetic chemistry by John Hawkes and Nikki Lorenzo (who also penned the screenplay). Here, music is no mere accompaniment, but the sole language capable of stripping back the years. The visual texture intertwines naturally with American musical and literary inspirations, calling to mind the intimate world of Tom Waits — with explicit nods to the heartbreak of Closing Time and the rugged poetry of Rain Dogs — whilst the notes of an acoustic guitar resonate within the confined space of the vehicle.
With this exquisite foretaste of the upcoming feature film, Bianca Poletti rejects the sleek polish of contemporary pop to embrace the authentic imperfection of the human experience. Amidst the delicate smoke of a cigarette and the vibrant warmth of 35mm film, ‘Lu’ serves as a poignant reminder that to be “transparent” is not to dissolve, but to possess the fortitude to reveal one’s true form through the light.