It was as though a painting by Dali was suddenly awakened and laid out like an open world. With only myself to act as the observer, I followed its main character through the streets haunted with mere ghosts of memories. She wanders this strange, interesting place with silent curiosity, imbibing the essence of it through its water and the stories it shares.
And although each scene flows with a transition of water flowing, it seems as though only the machines were breathing in this abandoned world of shadows and artifacts.
I was moved by the sense of true solitude and care of our main character. How must it feel to wonder what other human interactions would be like? When another's life, even that of an egg, is so precious and so frightening, because its loss would be far too much to carry. And the hope it carries inside is far more precious still. It felt like this was a story that wanted to say that having something precious to care for was possibly more important than knowing what's 'inside' it.
It seemed as though some of the moments that the girl becomes closer to the strange man, she is also presented with moments of external danger - although she is only an observer of it and not in any danger herself - and we, the viewers, are exposed to a feeling something yet to come.
While other moments are full of beauty. Like the moment when the full weight of quiet and space constricts your chest, but at the same time it is full of wonder and amazement. You feel as though you can't breathe, but exhale to let the pressure inside release. And it is here you begin to truly see yourself.
There was so much connotation in this very short film that exploring it fully may give too much away. That being said it is my suspicion that the film is about how scary getting to know another person can be when you feel so safe inside. That shelter you carry with you is sometimes more important to a person than exploring what is dangerous and would bring you closer to others.
The artist really explored the world of shadow and light for this film. There are moments when shapes take on whole personalities, completely separate from the story itself. The backgrounds were what really told a story to me and most of my favourite scenes were not about the story at all, but everything that was happening around it.
Contrariwise, the music seems to fit its scenes perfectly and without interference. They fill us with all the wonder and curiosity of our child-like heroine, and sometimes with a certain amount of finality. You feel as though you were on some profound journey, even if you find yourself wondering what exactly the journey itself conveys. Perhaps some parts of it are more grandiose than necessary, but in this case I felt the end justified the means.
Something about this journey felt very familiar and timeless to me. As though I had seen it time and time before, but could not put my finger on where. Perhaps for some this short film represents the journey we all have traveled from time to time; for others perhaps it is something more.
