Vapor

a real special film. for its bitter poetry and admirable manner of Marco Ladezma to give portrait of a middle age man front to his last day, remembering "Death at Venice" by Luchino Visconti, scenes from Pasolini, the fascinating presence of body like in Renaissance studies. a film about solitude. the deep solitude. and the most inspired way to transform it in occasion to celebrate the life. in a personal manner. as result of long and large expectations. a film who gives to you a real strange state. because its gift is a new vision about existence. simple, strange but valuable. not philosophy. only subtle poetry about small gestures and desires. changing everything. nothing more.

I saw this short at CFC's World Wide Short Film Festival in early June of 2011. I was stunned by the visual achievement and the poetry of the images. The slowed down images of men of different ages walking through a steam bath linger with me. I can feel their bones and the weight of their bodies. Like heavenly sculptures put into motion. The beauty we fail to see everyday is highlighted here. There are many striking images from this film that have stay with me long after the initial viewing.

Juxtaposing the intimacy of the bathhouse with the larger urban landscape from a fatalist view of an extremely high angle, pulling back as if it's the final shot of a film, in a sort of Koyaanisqatsi kind of way, jars, yet adds a fatalism and austerity equivalent to the lead character's expression of sexual longing and intimacy. This is a highly accomplished film. I simply fell in love with it. It has cast a lasting spell on me and I eagerly await Kaveh Nabatian's next work and long to see what he does in a longer format.

Likewise actor Marco Ledezma gives a highly credible and brave performance as a man outing himself later in life in very dramatic fashion. Find a way to see this film. It is exceptionally powerful.