Lucia (2013) and My Opinion

For today's blog, I thought to move away from the usual movie format to talk about Lucia (2013). It is a Kannada film with quite a following. It is crowd funded with a budget of 50 Lakh Rupees. Before watching the film, I was looking at all the IMDb scores and reviews of the movie. Many who watched the film were like this is India's Inception and stuff. So, I set my expectations high. After watching the film though I was a let down but still this is a good film. I was not on the same page as e everyone else unfortunately. This blog will particularly look at the positives and negatives of the screenplay and technical aspects of the movie as the acting is not actually a hero here even if all actors give good performances. 

THE POSITIVES :

1. The main sci-fi element is the biggest strength of the film. The concept of lucid dreaming is kind of unknown to audiences in 2013 and since been explored a lot. The most recent example can be 118 which bended it to fit the film's story. 
2. The quality and output of the film's images with 50 L is mind-blowing. The production of the film is so good. They did not limit themselves anywhere to save the budget yet they deliver some fantastic visuals.
3. The scenes which solely focus on the lucid dreaming concept. The interesting concept of the film hooks us in the beginning of the film. Then, in the last 20 minutes of the film is the main highlight of the film. A small twist in the tale and the detail given to it is simply outstanding. 
4. Also, this film achieves something that is unique to itself. It is a tribute to Indian cinema. So, it adds in some elements of films like a talkies owner and an usher or a star and his team. An item number, a commercial masala dialogue etc. Heck, it also adds in some references to Tamil and Telugu cinema along with the Kannada film references. So, it is a sci-fi film along with a cinema-based film.

THE NEGATIVES : 

1. The above mentioned positive is also a negative to the film. It being a tribute film comes with some decisions that is a compulsory but would not gel well with sci-fi plot it has. The introduction of a heroine in the film is not exactly the problem but the romantic track between the hero and heroine. It weighs down the sci-fi element because the concentration on the track weighs the element down and so, it could not show its true potential. The track itself is kinda boring and I thought those foreign girls were unnecessary. The director should have thought better about this. 
2. The other side characters except Shankaranna are not given enough character. Some of the other characters are just forgotten by us in the next scene.
3. The pace of the film. It was quite good in the first 20 minutes or so. But, it immediately slows down drastically as there is slow progression of story. In between the film, there is absolutely nothing happening.

My expectations for this film were high. The director tried to take two ideas of a sci-fi story and a tribute to films. These are two different things and the film could have been destroyed. I will give props to the director for blending them well but it succeeds only partially. Even though the film hooked me for a smaller time and the science fiction element did impress me, the film's major chunk was a let down as it had nothing much to say other than a love story. 

If the director tried to bring out the real potential of this concept and created some mind-bending scenes like in the pre-climax of the movie, it would have been an excellent film for me but yeah it is just a good film. Nothing Special. Let me see how his next offering U Turn fares out. See you soon.

IMDb Rating : 8.3/10

My Rating : 7/10