James Croke’s feature debut, sci-fi shocker Latency makes its theatrical debut today, June 14, via Lionsgate.
The film, directed and written by Croke, revolves around Hana (Sasha Luss – Anna, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) , a young gamer who struggles with acute agoraphobia. Hana is approached to test cutting-edge gaming equipment that uses AI technology to interpret the neural activity in her brain.
Initially intrigued by the thought of enhancing her gaming experience, Hana enlists the help of her best friend Jen (Alexis Ren – The Enforcer, Second Chances) to experiment with this new technology. As they delve deeper into the trials, Hana’s perception of reality and her subconscious mind becomes increasingly blurred and she starts to wonder if the device is helping her or serving a more sinister force.
In anticipation of Latency releasing today, CinemaChords’ Howard Gorman interviewed Croke, Luss and Ren who revealed the genesis behind videogaming serving as a metaphor for mental health struggles, how they approached working with a curious blend of old and new school technology, and how working in such a cramped setting informed the portrayal of Hana’s plight.
