Lucid

Lucid is a strange, thoroughly bizarre little movie revolving around a therapist and his three patients – all of whom seem to be experiencing problems discerning reality from dreams. It’s soon revealed that the doctor, Joel (Jonas Chernick), is having problems of his own stemming from a severe case of insomnia (it’s evidently been weeks since he’s slept). Lucid is well acted and certainly well made – director Sean Garrity imbues the film with an appropriately off-kilter sense of style – but ultimately, it’s just not terribly interesting. We’re never quite sure if this is supposed to be a drama, a thriller or even a horror movie, which is undoubtedly part of the problem; the rampant weirdness (which only becomes more pronounced as the film progresses) effectively keeps the viewer at arms length, making it virtually impossible to sympathize with the plight of these characters. It’s clear that Garrity is going for a David Lynchian sort of vibe, and on that level, the filmmaker succeeds. But despite several fantastic performances – Chernick is certainly leading-man material, while established costars such as Callum Keith Rennie and Lindy Booth are expectedly effective – Lucid never quite becomes anything more than a visually-intriguing experiment, one that’ll likely hit certain viewers as a stunningly original piece of work (which it is, in a way).

** out of ****