Luzzu

In order to provide for his family, a Maltese fisherman decides to break the law…

By naming his first feature Luzzu, Alex Camilleri draws attention to its setting. That he should wish to do so is not really surprising because, although Camilleri was brought up in America, he is of Maltese extraction and as writer and director he has chosen to tell a story about a fisherman living on the island. Consequently, this man, Jesmark played by Jesmark Scicluna, is someone who regularly uses a colourfully painted boat known as a luzzu, this craft being a traditional feature in Malta. Indeed, we first see him on it and the vessel has been passed down through the family. Witness to this fact is the baby footprint visible on the boat made by Jesmark himself and before long we will see Jesmark’s son making the same imprint. But whether or not that will be meaningful becomes a key issue: Luzzu is a film about change, change that comes about and alters lives whether desired or not.

This is a work in which most of the players, including Jesmark Scicluna himself, are non-professionals and, indeed, Camilleri’s whole approach here is, as he acknowledges, consequent on his great love for the Italian neorealist cinema of the 1940s. Luzzu, however, is a contemporary tale and as such its view of working-class lives and of political and social pressures also brings to mind the work of Ken Loach (it is a strange coincidence that the British release of Luzzu comes in the same week as the French film Between Two Worlds which is also Loachian in character).

The problems that Jesmark faces are in part personal ones. He is happily married to Denise (Michela Farrugia) but she comes from an upper-class family and her mother (Frida Cauchi) feels that Jesmark is an unworthy son-in-law. In consequence, Jesmark feels the need to prove himself as a breadwinner for his family regardless of his having to struggle to earn enough, a situation made worse by dealers in the fish market often doing him down. But his plight becomes even more acute when the couple’s baby son is found to be in need of medical care which will be costly. Furthermore, this happens at a time when Jesmark’s luzzu is undergoing repairs and in the circumstances he is drawn into denying his own principles. He does so by secretly taking the opportunity to earn from participation in illegal local fishing which supports a black market.

If the position in which Jesmark finds himself has largely come about by chance, there is another factor also in play and that is political. What the luzzu fishermen are allowed to do is circumscribed by EU regulations and as their situation gets worse the trade is increasingly under threat. This is the more so because money is being offered by the EU as an incentive to these fishermen to forsake their work and join other industries. By its close Luzzu has become a lament for the potential loss of a highly individual way of life in Malta and for a first feature it is carried off with assurance. There is an effective balance between the telling of a personal story and an almost documentary-like portrait and Camilleri obtains telling performances from his non-professional cast including leading man Jesmark Scicluna and his real life cousin David Scicluna, the latter playing the best friend of the central character. Elsewhere one finds subsidiary characters who convince yet are arguably rather cursorily treated. The brief appearances of the mother-in-law here are enough to establish her influence, but one would like to see more of Jesmark’s wife, not least because in this role Michela Farrugia, a stage actress, makes a very strong impression. But, even if some of the writing could have been fleshed out more to advantage, this is a very promising debut work, heartfelt and individual.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Jesmark Scicluna, Michela Farrugia, David Scicluna, Uday McLean, Stephen Buhagiar, Frank Tanti, Frida Cauchi, Reece Vella, Yuri Allison, Michael Sciortino, Marta Vella, Timur Ali, Marcelle Teuma.

Dir Alex Camilleri, Pro Ramin Bahrani, Alex Camilleri, Rebecca Anastasi and Oliver Mallia, Screenplay Alex Camilleri, Ph Léo Lefèvre, Pro Des Jon Banthorpe, Ed Alex Camilleri, Music Jon Natchez, Costumes Martina Zammet Maempel.

Luzzu/a Pellikola & Maborosi Films/Noruz Films-Peccadillo Pictures.
95 mins. Malta/USA/France. 2021. US Rel: 15 October 2021. UK Rel: 27 May 2022. Cert. 15.