A radiated and disaster-ridden city filled with tranquility and quietude? After watching the film, you can easily observe into the directors mind of genius and prowess.
The not so short film, "Graffiti" explores a post apocalyptic setting surrounding the tragedy that occurred at Chernobyl in 1986. "7 years after the incident," an abandoned Edgar and his dog tramp through the harsh winter snow searching for, and marking radiated areas of the city using what is known as a Geiger counter. After another average day of using graffiti to mark the walls, Edgar goes home to make the discovery of a name written on his wall, "Anna," which tumbles Edgars life into a hole of difficult decisions.
Mixing a tragedy and love story into one in an art form such as this will always remind me of William Shakespeare's work, and it seems that this short film also follows his original formatting as well. Going from barely knowing each other to making sacrifices for the other person in a matter of weeks is not the most realistic circumstance, but it is unbelievably fascinating mostly because of how unrealistic the circumstances are. Director Lluis Quilez mentioned in an interview that he wanted the storyline to be based around the, "long tradition of love stories that have grown through long distance letters or messages," which he mentioned in an interview. This furthers my ideas of him following "tradition" and using the most common formatting for love stories which I honestly think is smart, because if anything traditional love stories are the easiest to follow in today's society because us as humans see them everywhere. Mixing the idea of this familiarity of traditional love with the unfamiliarity of disaster is what makes this short film so well executed.
Tying back into the main theme of tragic love, I realized that I enjoy this film mostly for the silence and suspense that they built and how it always had me wondering, "what's going to happen next?" I also can appreciate how the title is a bit of an oxymoron when compared to the silence of the film, considering that graffiti spraying is some of the loudest sound to happen in this film overall. Additionally it is interesting that the winter setting predetermined placidity in the opening scenes even before we met our main character, which is fitting considering that winter is a symbol for darkness and the death of an era which ties back to the original theme of tragedy. These are a few of the many reasons and hidden devices they use to further explore the theme and keep the viewers of the film encapsulated.
There isn't much criticism I have about the film, but the only thing I would like to mention is the ambiguity of the ending. Leaving it on a cliffhanger and not ending this (long) short story on a specific conclusion, whether happy or sad, doesn't give the viewer enough satisfaction in myself and many others cases and just isn't a great way to cut the story off. I do understand wanting to leave the interpretation of if Anna is real or not up to the viewer, but after watching for thirty minutes, I believe that they already left enough time for this idea to be interpreted and that they could have ended the story with the truth.
The not so short film, "Graffiti" explores a post apocalyptic setting surrounding the tragedy that occurred at Chernobyl in 1986. "7 years after the incident," an abandoned Edgar and his dog tramp through the harsh winter snow searching for, and marking radiated areas of the city using what is known as a Geiger counter. After another average day of using graffiti to mark the walls, Edgar goes home to make the discovery of a name written on his wall, "Anna," which tumbles Edgars life into a hole of difficult decisions.
Mixing a tragedy and love story into one in an art form such as this will always remind me of William Shakespeare's work, and it seems that this short film also follows his original formatting as well. Going from barely knowing each other to making sacrifices for the other person in a matter of weeks is not the most realistic circumstance, but it is unbelievably fascinating mostly because of how unrealistic the circumstances are. Director Lluis Quilez mentioned in an interview that he wanted the storyline to be based around the, "long tradition of love stories that have grown through long distance letters or messages," which he mentioned in an interview. This furthers my ideas of him following "tradition" and using the most common formatting for love stories which I honestly think is smart, because if anything traditional love stories are the easiest to follow in today's society because us as humans see them everywhere. Mixing the idea of this familiarity of traditional love with the unfamiliarity of disaster is what makes this short film so well executed.
Tying back into the main theme of tragic love, I realized that I enjoy this film mostly for the silence and suspense that they built and how it always had me wondering, "what's going to happen next?" I also can appreciate how the title is a bit of an oxymoron when compared to the silence of the film, considering that graffiti spraying is some of the loudest sound to happen in this film overall. Additionally it is interesting that the winter setting predetermined placidity in the opening scenes even before we met our main character, which is fitting considering that winter is a symbol for darkness and the death of an era which ties back to the original theme of tragedy. These are a few of the many reasons and hidden devices they use to further explore the theme and keep the viewers of the film encapsulated.
There isn't much criticism I have about the film, but the only thing I would like to mention is the ambiguity of the ending. Leaving it on a cliffhanger and not ending this (long) short story on a specific conclusion, whether happy or sad, doesn't give the viewer enough satisfaction in myself and many others cases and just isn't a great way to cut the story off. I do understand wanting to leave the interpretation of if Anna is real or not up to the viewer, but after watching for thirty minutes, I believe that they already left enough time for this idea to be interpreted and that they could have ended the story with the truth.