Levitating Film Review: Lifting Spirits

Levitating is a fun, inventively weird, and surprisingly heartfelt movie in which everyone’s commitment pays off in entertaining fashion.

The film takes place in a town where people let themselves be possessed by animal spirits for psychedelic fun. Many aspire to take up the professional life of a spirit channeler, including village-dwelling amateur Bayu (Angga Yunanda), whose father (Indra Birowo) insists on dragging him away from his home to work for him. His chance comes when a competition, led by Guru Asri (Anggun), is held to determine who will take part in a series of trance party fundraisers to stop an impending eviction. If you can’t unconditionally accept any of this, or the imagery of people growling and crawling around like various animals en masse, then leave now.

But Levitating isn’t just goofy, mindless fun… Okay, it’s very goofy, but it’s not mindless. The way the spirit channeling works ties into what the channelers are feeling. Which is unfortunate in Bayu’s case, since he has a few big reasons to be stressed out and fearful, which obviously compromises his goal of putting people in states of euphoria where the outside world can’t hurt them. Like a drug-addled rave, these trance gatherings are meant to be escapes for the participants, but that comes with responsibility on the channelers’ parts to be spiritually at peace with themselves.

Every performance is good, but Anggun far and away steals the show for me. As the guru and ringleader of this entire crew, she’s the most active and locked-in during the rituals, making her the most fun to watch. But she’s also tough and no-nonsense while staying sensible and sympathetic, meaning she’s just as enjoyable even when she’s not chanting and dancing all over the place. That’s not to take anything away from the physical acting that everyone, from the instrumental channelers to their animalistic subjects, pulls off in many extended sequences. This story does not work unless the cast is 100% committed, and this one certainly is.

Each summoning session is really fun to watch. Director Wregas Bhanuteja and cinematographer Gunnar Nimpuno capture everyone’s frenetic energy and choreography, and that’s not even including the trips within the spirit realm itself where things are allowed to get visually nuttier. There’s the right amount of tension too, considering the different ways things can and sometimes do go wrong while these people are animals. Yennu Ariendra is also essential as the composer, considering how big a role music plays as well… Although I’m sorry, I can’t get into how Bayu’s flute sounds like a dying animal itself. That’s just a personal gripe from my ears.

Now, I’m not some grand expert on the world of spirits, or whatever the religious/philosophical roots of these practices are. And Levitating is by no means a Miyazaki-tier examination of the human condition amid the higher plane of immortal souls. But it goes through the different ways these techniques can be used and even misused, again showing how the art is like any other substance we use to find our own pleasure. No one can be in control of others’ mental states until they sort through their own, in ways that are divorced from the spiritual realm and firmly in practical reality.

The film is pretty broadly written, but there are smart touches with how the mind and body affect each other. When pushing this point to its darkest and most extreme possibility, Levitating just straight-up becomes a psychological and body horror film for a single scene. Like, look-away-if-you’re-at-all-squeamish levels of body horror. And, shocker, I really like that. The broader story of trying to protect beloved homes and traditions from the evils of capitalism, real estate, and appropriation also add their own extra edge, even if the message isn’t really any deeper than… stop it. 

Every festival I’ve covered has had at least one movie that I know isn’t a masterpiece but is so off-the-wall odd in just the right way to please me, even though I’m certain it’s an acquired taste. As I often do, I’ll put it simply: if the mere idea of Levitating sounds up your alley, the movie itself will very likely give you a great time. If you’re even on the fence, it could still surprise you if you give it a shot. It’s fun, funny, heartfelt, decently perceptive, at times wildly dark, and just a well-rounded jaunt of a film. Whether it’ll find an audience is, pun wholly intended, up in the air.

Oh, and raise your hand if the title keeps making you hum the Dua Lipa song. Yeah, me too.

Levitating was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 29 – February 2, 2026.