“LUKi & the Lights,” directed by Toby Cochran

San Diego Short Film Festival

Genre: Animated Short

Total Run Time 10:40​

​

I can’t discuss anything that makes this film special without spoiling it, so go watch it. It’s great, you won’t be disappointed. Seriously, spoilers ahead.

 

We live in a cynical age, so it’s hard to enter into any transaction without cynical expectations. It taints our experiences with commerce, politics, romance – and entertainment. So when a film starts with a title card from “Big Grin Productions” before transitioning to bright and colorful animation filled with upbeat music and friendly, enthusiastic characters, you are primed to assume that something either spectacularly demented or sad is about to happen.

​

Folks, this one is sad. There’s no way around it. 

LUKi, a robot, goes about a typical day – robot hygiene, meeting with robot friends, going to his robot cubicle job where he works as an artist – when suddenly one of the lights in his hand starts to spark and dim in an apparent malfunction. It’s not doing what it’s supposed to. He’s concerned, but he doesn’t raise that concern with his friends. Later, during a soccer match, his hand glitches again. Now, his friends are starting to worry. Then we see LUKi going about his typical day in a joyless and listless way, in stark contrast to the opening. His friends convince him to go see a robot doctor, who is upbeat as he runs LUKi through a battery of tests. The diagnosis is ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and it’s fatal. The last half of the film consists of LUKi coming to terms with his disease, finding workarounds to keep him active, accepting the help of his friends and then dying with dignity in his own bed.

​

There’s no actual dialog in the entire film, so all of the emotional weight – and, again, it’s a considerable weight – are carried by the music and visuals, which are both spectacular. This is pro-grade stuff, with obvious thought having gone into each frame’s light, shadows and color. All of that visual prowess would feel like a tech demo without an emotional core for the story, and “LUKi & the Lights” excels here as well. You will tear up. You may cry openly. This isn’t due to emotional manipulation – it’s incredibly genuine. In fact, it is sublime storytelling and filmmaking at its finest.

​

The last minute of the film includes the back story of how it was conceived and its purpose, which is another gut-punch. This work has earned its genuineness, unfortunately, but that’s a tonic for the cynicism we’re swimming in every day.