Latency
Summary
As the world of practical realism and stilted intelligence applied science grows and becomes more immersive , it ’s frequently found itself at the nerve centre of many sci - fi story . Whether it be the blockbuster flight ofSteven Spielberg’sReady Player Oneor the morethought - provoking episodes ofBlack Mirror , VR and AI can be utilized for a salmagundi of stem and storytelling . With James Croke’sLatency , not only is the accurate meaning of the film a mystery , but the lack of thrills is just as baffling .
Cast
precede by Sasha Luss , Latencycenters on Hana , a professional gamer with acute agoraphobia who has not left her apartment for year , rather working from home and help with everything from game examination to take part in tournaments . When she ’s offered the opportunity to test an observational machine that tie in to her mind waves , it apparently improves her gambling and lead off making her life easier . As she begins go through unusual upshot , it lead her to question the nature behind the technology .
Sasha Luss Delivers A Surprisingly Compelling Performance
Having first found winner in the world of molding , Luss has steadily been building her film resume over the past few years , having starred inLuc Besson’sValerian and the City of a Thousand PlanetsandAnna , as well as the psychological thrillerShattered . Unlike her prior covert roles , in which the focus was just as much on other theatrical role , Latencyis almost all labour by Luss ' lead operation , and she evidence herself a astonishingly subject actor .
Though there surely are here and now in which her functioning feel a bit stilted , namely when it add up to the gambling present moment view in the moving picture , her operation show up plentitude of eruditeness and growth with each new purpose .
When the movie works to develop Hana and her emotional backstory , Luss captures these layers with compelling gracility . navigate between the grief her eccentric feel over her past times — which is rarely explored — and the desire to grow and connect with the external world , the virtuoso nicely taps into every emotion with ease . Though there certainly are moments in which her carrying out feels a bit stilted , namely when it comes to the gaming moments seen in the movie , her carrying into action shows hatful of learning and development with each new role .
Croke’s Direction Leads To Some Impressive & Stylish Visuals
In addition to Luss ' strong leading turn , Latencyalso somewhat benefits from James Croke ’s visual approach to the sci - fi thriller . Although the movie only serves as his second directorial effort , the film maker displays an impressive grasp on creating an immersive and lived - in atmosphere with Hana ’s apartment . The movie ’s darker lighting tie-in nicely into both the environment a gamer would find the advantageously suitable for their lifestyle and someone unprepared to confront the outside world , while the actual production design of the set leads to a few successful jounce .
Croke ’s approach toLatency ’s mind - bending thrill also proves a fashionable means of keeping us gripped on the increasingly blurry line between technical school - induced delusion and world . Between quite literally dim dig of ghost - same figures to disingenuous lens choices presenting kaleidoscopic - like images to twin Hana ’s own growing disconnect with the real world , Croke represent some fashionable directorial choice that orient to a bright time to come , albeit only if he has the right material to sour off of .
LatencyUltimately Suffers From An Uninspired & Unsurprising Story
Despite some of these positive component , though , Latencycan never quite overcome its decidedly bland and underdeveloped story . The nature of the applied science that serve as the accelerator of the pic ’s game is at last its biggest flaw , as there are too many unanswered questions surrounding it by the time the story come to a close . Where some movies would at least offer brainwave as to the gimmick ’s Jehovah , goal , or at least set up up worldwide catastrophic results in spite of a horror story such as Hana ’s , none of these thing are made clear ; they ’re not even touch to .
Unlike any episode of Charlie Brooker’sBlack Mirror , the movie offers few meaningful messages and even fewer answers about anything that leads up to its anticlimactical ending .
Latencyalso fails to personate any challenging thematic questions regarding people ’s association to engineering , or any major revelations for Hana to give her some kind of character ontogenesis . Though the growing reliance on technology apply passel of opportunities for Hana to break devoid from her house of cards and better embrace the international humans , Croke ’s script seems content with rescue reality - questioning thrills rather than offering anything meaningful to keep audience thinking beyond the movie ’s 90 - minute runtime , or even within it .
Custom Image by Grant Hermanns
While I could argue the like ofReady Player Onehave succeed without these deeper societal conversations , Latencydoesn’t benefit from having a full virtual realism domain carry with pop culture Easter eggs . Instead , it takes a more grounded and psychological approach to its potentially unequaled story , though unlike any episode of Charlie Brooker’sBlack Mirror , the movie offers few meaningful message and even fewer answer about anything that leads up to its anticlimactic closing .
When Hana ( Sasha Luss ) is asked to tryout sophisticated novel play equipment which uses AI to read the electrical activity of her brain , she see an opportunity to enhance her game , but the melodic line between reality and Hana ’s subconscious quickly begins to obscure .
