Harrowing pain coursed through Cicero's veins like liquid-fire, changing his very genetics into like those normally infected but having his sense of mortality unpolluted by corruption and in return gaining otherworldly sentience. It was from this very moment a unquenchable lust for vengeance took over Cicero causing him to seek out and eradicate those who had been infected with this plague, thus ending any form of actual life upon his planet and by the end of it Cicero only felt empty inside as he/she still lost the only person that gave him meaning. Knowing that a threat similar to this one might return in the future, Cicero enveloped himself in a strange energy before hurling himself through the space until reaching a void that consumed his meager form, spitting him out into a familiar galaxy similar to his own. Cicero swam through the confines of space with his new powers before reaching Earth and finding him/herself in a new home, one that Cicero swore to protect with his very life.Ĭicero wasn't going to let another tragedy fall on his plate.Īge: Physically 25. Sexuality: Bisexual (Already has a hubby though.)Īlignment (Good, Bad, neutral, etc ?): Chaotic Good. Personality: "Y'know life is so much more amusing when ya just take a moment to un-wind, shutting out all those conflicting thoughts and just acting upon instinct and letting fate take the wheel for you! That's what I did and look at me, i'm perfectly F-I-N-E. Durra peels away at her lead character to reveal the desperation of Hana’s belief that Luxor can glue her back together. Whether any city can do that is beside the point. Hana tells other travelers that she’s on vacation, but what the film chronicles is a pilgrimage - the kind many more Westerners used to make in the belief that a particular place could transform them. But in the end, Luxor is about something much more special, at least in the movies, than love. The scenic backdrops, relaxed rapport, philosophical discussions and a murmuring hum of anxiety about the unlikely future of this romance make it a spiritual cousin of the Before Sunrise trilogy, though a sadder and more haunted relation. It helps that Riseborough, who delivers a subtle and fully inhabited performance, shares the kind of chemistry with Saleh that suggests decades of mutual, if fragmented, history. Despite her obvious distaste for traditional domesticity, Hana appears temporarily relieved of her burdens when he’s around. She runs into her old friend Sultan (Karim Saleh), a visiting archaeologist from America, and their compact, oblique conversations lead to something like a personal excavation. Though much of its runtime is devoted to Hana taking a stroll or looking out a car window, Luxor does progressively grow in intensity. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of film I wish I was into, but its aspirations are commendable nonetheless.
It is, in other words, the kind of film you are definitely into or definitely not. Luxor is a dialogue- and backstory-averse mood piece, too: Durra proffers the barest amount of her protagonist’s biography to get us to understand her, leaning on Riseborough’s deglamorized, largely physical performance (including a deliberately graceless dance sequence) and our awe of the city’s splendor to fill in the rest, and perhaps in the process glean a bit of Hana’s restoration ourselves.
That’s no surprise - how do you visually represent a character gradually feeling whole again ? Recovery is a common story beat in cinema, but it’s seldom the entire point of a feature. As we slowly but steadily discover, Hana, a burnt-out surgeon dedicated to treating war trauma, hopes to be healed enough by the city to take on an even more arduous assignment. One exception: The metal detector at the hotel’s entrance. (The cinematography can be summed up as “dry heat.”) Luxor is also home to a population of 500,000, but the snapshots of daily life are fleeting: This is a travelogue set mostly amidst attractions and the hotel bar, amongst English-speaking guides, other sightseers, and one harrumphing manager. Unsurprisingly, the star of Luxor is the titular city, which writer-director Zeina Durra ( The Imperialists Are Still Alive!) showcases in postcard-ready shots of exquisite archeological sites, sun-kissed cityscapes, peaceful boat rides on the river, gently swaying palm trees and modern amenities within charmingly old-fashioned hotels.
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