Struggling with creative block? Take 'Lucid'  

Having a creative block is a terrifying experience, and also a great premise for a punk horror movie like Lucid, which I had the pleasure of watching as part of Brooklyn Horror Festival.

Set in the 90s, the film follows the story of Mia (Caitlin Acken Taylor), an art student struggling with her creative expression. She decides to take a lucid dreaming elixir, in a desperate attempt to create a good art piece that pleases her male professor. The tricky part is that she only has one week to hand it in, or else she gets expelled.

Did she make the right decision? Could a pill truly help unlock one's creativity?

The movie starts with us following Mia on her commute to school. The camera movement and frames create an intense immersive atmosphere that progressively introduces us to Mia's emotional world. This opening scene got the audience instantly hooked thanks to the incredible cinematography, soundtrack and visuals that depicted an accurate aesthetic of that time period.

When Mia presents her art work Self Portrait in class, she is met with ridicule and dissatisfaction from her professor and classmates. She realized that she lost her artistic voice and identity. This incident, combined with the threat of being expelled, was enough motivation for her to use the elixir, maybe a little too much of it. But she knew in order to unblock her mind, she needs to face the demons of her her past.

After she takes Lucid, we are transcended into a surreal pyschedelic journey inside her subconsciousness. And this is when the film gets really trippy. This elixir unlocked memories and traumas that were burried deep in Mia's mind and inhibited her from fully expressing herself. Then the movie transforms into a display of different art forms: performance art, mixed media art, immersive sound, and even elements of photography, highlighting both her internal and external struggles.

Despite the horrors and the traumas Mia faced, thanks to Lucid she was able to learn a lot about herself; and this is something she wouldn't have been able to achieve without making Self Portrait. Both the elixir and her art unlocked the door to her artistic awakening.

This serves as a reminder for artists to keep showing up, and to keep making art from the heart. Art is subjective. Art is self expression and not meant to please people. Art is meant to be raw and ugly. This is a movie about confronting our fears and insecurities as creatives despite the horrors indie artists have to face to be accepted by the general audience.

Lucid explores the horrors of being a creative woman in a patriarchal world where she feels constantly pressured to make art that pleases men, even though her art is not made for them. Caitlin's impeccable performance felt like a choreographed piece that paralled the music and the words in the script. Her screams combined with her bodily and facial expressions, are a visual representation of the female rage living under patriarchy. Watch out for this superstar!

Lucid's sound design deserves to be its own movie. It had its own storytelling elements unfolding into different chapters and crafting a beautiful auditory experience. Sadly, the composer Marta Jaciubek-McKeever passed away after a battle with cancer, but her score will be remembered and appreciated forever.

Lucid is a unique and experimental multi-sensory masterpiece that will instantly captivate you. It is easy to tell there was so much passion and heart put into it, both in front of and behind the camera.I can't believe this is Ramsey Fendall and Deanna Milligan's debut. So, I'll definitely keep an eye out for their future works.