Freaky things are happening seaside in Neeraja Raj’s charming, if slightly too charming short, Lusthouse. A young woman cleaning a lighthouse in South Korea is startled by the arrival of a helper in the form of a hunky young man, whom she resolves to woo through increasingly direct means. His inability to reciprocate may have less to do with her or her methods of seduction, however, and more to do with him.
It’s a cute concept and a cute movie. Perfectly suited for its five-minute runtime. Though the cuteness is largely all it has to offer, save a trifle more sexual frankness than might initially be expected.
Frankness and directness are on full display in near every element of this short. Not only in its lead character’s actions. The colours are bright and vivid, the emotions are raw and fervent, and the humour is broad. Too broad, perhaps, such that it lands with a thud at times. Raj’s heavy-handed approach maximizes the charm, overdoing it a bit in the process, and deflates the impact of the big reveal at the movie’s end. You anticipate the surprise, even if you weren’t anticipating its details.
But Lusthouse succeeds on its own terms nonetheless. Regardless of how sophisticated those terms may be. It’s a brazenly unsophisticated movie in its aims, yet there’s genuine sensitivity and intelligence to its craft.