By: Tal Haring
"Short film about a disfunctioning family and a girl's dream of escape."
It’s been an hour since I saw remains. I am sitting on my rooftop and watching as the sun slowly descends and the shadows start to appear. A cold wind is blowing. And really that’s how I am feeling inside too – cold, shivering and sad. And that’s how Remains wanted me to feel.
This short creates a desolate scene showing a girl who is having a hard time with her family. I won’t go into detail about the storyline but what I would like to talk about is the atmosphere generated by the movie. Its gloomy, its depressing, its melancholic and yet its amazing! The director doesn’t create this sense of despair with cheap tricks, but he makes it happen through the little details, the very lightly played soundtrack in the background and specially the sawdust!
Yes, the way sawdust has been used as an expression of despair in the movie it really speaks volumes about the direction of the movie. You don’t often find such creativity in a short, but Remains excel at it.
The acting while not brilliant, cannot be criticized either. Its not going to win any awards, but it’s not going to deflect the moviegoers’ attention either.
Yes its sad and despairing at times, but that’s what the maker wants us to feel. And now as the sun has completely disappeared and the cold wind blows I still sit here feeling very low. And frankly I am loving it!
