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‘Madame Luna’ Review: Human Smuggling Thriller Marks a Surprising Departure — or Return — for ‘Easy Money’ Director


'Morbius' director Daniel Espinosa tackles a more reality-based project about a people smuggler forced to reinvent herself while detained in Italy.

Where Espinosa’s last four credits allowed him to work with an enviable roster of English-speaking stars — Denzel Washington, Tom Hardy, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jared Leto — this smaller, more sociological character study calls for unknowns across the board. Taking more of a genre-film approach, Espinosa and co-writers Suha Arraf and Maurizio Braucci find inspiration in the ambiguous morality of their milieu — specifically, a Calabrian refugee camp, located at the southern toe of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula. Adopting an occasionally disorienting, immersive aesthetic, DP Juan Sarmiento G. observes Almaz in the present, shooting handheld as this resourceful ex-criminal navigates the claustrophobic corridors of the detention center.

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