Luzzu

A sneak peek into Maltase coastline life.

Not a very engaging storyline, yet the freshness of location did make a difference.

With a feel of history, passion, family, business, money, corruption elements the movie is watchable.

Malta's official submission to 2022's Oscars is beautiful, authentic, simple and emotional. Story is interesting and in a simple beautiful way it tackles powerful topics like sacrifice, tradition and family. It's that kind of movies that say so much by saying almost nothing. Lead performance is superb.

A man attempts to keep up the family tradition of fishing with a small wooden boat. Malta makes a stunning setting for the story. The EU has made it almost impossible for the small time fishermen to make a living. The underground economy is a dark and sad commentary on globalization. The cast is excellent and Luzzu is one of the best films of the year.

"Luzzu" is a sensitive film, full of allegory, and a stupendous and extraordinary performance by Jesmark Scicluna as Jesmark, a many-generation Maltese fisherman who struggles to choose between his passion for the sea and his family in the land. The director manages to draw so much reality and emotions from both Jesmark Scicluna and Filip Sertic that their passion for fishing is very clear. The film is spectacular in showing the simplicity of fishermen against the underground fishing black market, the contradictions between tradition or falling into the unfair capitalist world, going after their dreams ("...a fish stays in a bowl never grows...' or family stability.

As one reviewer stated so well: "It's that kind of movies that say so much by saying almost nothing.".

As one reviewer stated so well: "It's that kind of movies that say so much by saying almost nothing.".

I also want to point out that the plot of this movie serves much to the current big film industry: How is it possible that a movie like this or the performance of the ensemble cast is ignored by the major award competitions????? Yeah!!!! Small and beautifully fish fighting against big sharks.

This was a well acted and beautifully shot film. The story is a slow burn about a man who came from a long line of fisherman in a changing economy where his trade is quickly dying off. The protagonist is faced with many existential questions about his life, how to provide for his family, fairness, and ultimately his role in a changing world. While the film can come off as very slow, I felt the ending really made the story feel quite important.