Since the dawn of the cinema filmmakers always indulged in telling techno horror stories and they explored electronics with a never seen before curiosity. From Videodrome, through M3GAN, to Afraid, this cinematic genre is never far away from technology. Or more accurately, this genre is full of paranoia and foreboding of what the future holds, especially, the horrors of allowing AI technology to infiltrate our lives. Many things have gone wrong this year as many of us are now understanding, things have continued to spiral for the worst. Adding to the techno horrors run this year, Latency by James Croke also stands apart from others owing to its unique depiction of competition engulfed within the spirit of gaming, albeit wish it could’ve been warmer and more alive.
We learn that Hana (Sasha Luss) is a strongly agoraphobic female, who keeps herself locked off from other people. Still, in the online realm, she is more social as a gamer trying competing in clans. Though her professional career has taken a turn for the worst, she remains staunch in her resolve to prepare for an upcoming event that promises approximately $250K in prize money. Her friend Jen (Alexis Ren) regularly comes to her place, buys food for her, and even does her laundry.
Hana receives an earlier version of a new technology before the competition. It is not available to the public for some time but Hana does not, for some reason, hesitate to use what is clearly an unfair advantage. It is a device that is placed at the base of her head and is able to read her thoughts allowing her to become more active and control other devices such as her cell phone.
Things start off benign enough. Throughout the tests, the machine evaluates her motor, typing, and pain receptor skills. The game is irresistible for Hana, and she focuses on the process, letting the device’s sensors probe ever deeper into her head. The device goes deeper and deeper into the back of her skull and becomes permanently implanted. Reality becomes very indistinct for Hana, and she sinks into a void of her design. Jen warns her about the potential negative outcomes of her actions tip her over to go further to the dark side.
Croke entangles his audience into a spiraled tunnel full of horror and dimensions. The further Hana plunges into insanity, the more her mind starts tearing apart and bending the pieces of the real world she sees. Soon, she gets to a stage where there is no coming back. So at least she wins this game, but the cost was unspeakable. What she did is a crime, sure, but is it a crime that exists in reality.
The concept is interesting enough, but still the film is too weak to bring up expectations that the plot will suck you in. The film’s center does not get showcased as bulging out of Hana’s PC screen realistic scares where they are supposed to be. There are especially periods when nothing particularly interesting happens, and these end up putting you into boredom even to your bones. Quite beautiful as a film, but that being Croke’s first time directing a full length film, it does not really offer anything to tickle your senses in a good way.
Latency’s cinematography is filled with vivid rich colors, and so there is a romance to it. But at the end this one too resides at limping and failing to live up to its expectations. And while Luss’s portrayal was impressive full of pain, and all the textures were in the right place there just was no chomp to motivate the film to its final dash to the goal.
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