Graffiti

This is my first review ever, but I just had to say this is what film making should look like. This is what it is supposed to be and what was intended for. I just have to compliment this hoping that it will encourage other projects like this.

I have to admit that I watched this by accident when my infant daughter was playing with the remote and stopped at the beginning of this film. She must have been enchanted by the music score which is absolutely beautiful. I stopped what I was doing, feeling drawn to it, just like she did. I was hung to my chair and watched filled with hope and compassion for the protagonist, made me also think about all the harm that we are doing to our planet and that this scenario could be real some day, what a dreadful thought that was.. But mostly it moved me. Touched me deeply.

The scenery and music are stunning. The acting is powerful, it really is considering that the actor had almost no lines whatsoever, no interactions at all, and with his deep eyes and that sweet little dog managed to speak volumes on humanity's nature. My compliments to all those who made this happen. Thank you.

A post-apocalyptic film that you might relate to. Set in the ruins Pripyat, Ukraine, Oriol Pla plays the role of Edger, a lonely survivor of the "incident". His life is a monotony of scavenging through irradiated ruins. But his life is given meaning once he spots the name "Anna" graffitied onto the wall.

Lluís Quílez puts a relatively mundane story into the form of a post-apocalyptic drama in a way I found appealing. I have to give them credit for filming in such a cool location in the bitter cold. Though it leaves you with many questions, which may or may not be a good thing. Though I find that the film could have been a couple minutes shorter without sacrificing the impression of monotony at the beginning of the film.

The short film Graffiti displays a man who has been stuck for many years alone in an abandoned area contaminated with radioactivity. Lluís Quílez gives us very little information about the reasons behind the man's situation. The man is alone and has somehow managed to survive for seven years on limited resources. I really enjoyed the setting as it is based in Chernobyl and it is chilling to see it in modern times. The camera crew and the actors had to potentially expose themselves to radioactivity to film this which creates a real sense of danger especially those who are educated on the nuclear accident.

In the film, it seems this place can make you sick but it is never explained what the sickness does or why there is a reason to fear it. I am personally not a fan of the lack of clarification cause I found myself thinking about these questions and it kind of took me away from what was happening on the screen.

The wide shots used to display many shots throughout this film serves to encompass a sense of isolation and seclusion. This shot is used in the opening scenes where the man is seen pleasuring himself to a faded billboard showing a woman's legs in pantyhose. I think that the fact that this billboard only shows a woman's legs leaving out a face really displays the man's desire for anything even remotely womanly or romantic. When the word ANNA appears in graffiti on a wall, he is so willing to make sacrifices for this person and is so desperate to meet her that he doesn't stop to think about how he really knows nothing about this person. She has no face just like the billboard. The question arises of what if this person isn't who he is romanticizing in his mind. Would he still have the same desire to sacrifice things for her? Would he begin to regret past decisions?

As the conversation written in graffiti between the two continues it becomes very ambiguous of if this person really exists. At times it seems like surely she exists and other times things begin to feel a little off. I really like the sense of mystery and tension that builds as the story progresses and the desire to know the truth.

Nearing the end things start to lose clarification and become very ambiguous. I like very plot based stories that end with all loose ends tied up into a little bow. This story didn't do that for me. I was left with many questions. I think this film would be a good fit for someone who likes to use their imagination and explore many different ideas. Personally my brain hurt from thinking of all the unanswered questions at the end so it wasn't a good fit for me although I do think there is a certain audience for this type of film. That being said I would still recommend this film as it kept me entertained and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Anna came into Edgar's home several times without either him or his dog sensing her presence. Why didn't she reveal herself earlier when she could see he was harmless? Did Edgar's isolation drive him to imagine Anna's existence and subconsciously act out her side of the conversation?

It is so damn hard to review Short Films for me. I mean, it's by and large fun to watch them. The challenge lies in trying to generate a lot to say about not a lot of movie.

Such is the case with the half-hour short "Graffiti". First of all, this is a production that extends a good ten minutes beyond what is reasonably requisite in order to effectively tell the story here. That narrative being a guy who is not certain if he is the last human on earth seven years after an apocalyptic "incident", apparently of a catastrophically nuclear nature.

Director and Co-Writer/Producer Lluis Quilez gives us far to many shots establishing that this despondent and solitary man, Edgar (Oriol Pla, resembling a young John Stamos, who himself resembles the actual PRESENT-DAY John Stamos), has been sentenced to an existence of desperately lonely and empty days. And the somber mood generated by Arnau Bataller's morose musical accompaniment supplies a more than sufficient cue that we as an audience should be filled to overflowing with feelings saturated with the somber and serious. Edgar is continuously shown bearing the brunt of another brutally harsh winter entrapped within a completely gutted and empty city while trudging about in a joyless effort to determine if the radiation levels in the dilapidated structures threatening to crumble down on top of him are safe for entry (Pripyat, the Ukrainian city most egregiously impacted by the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown crisis of 1986, provides the primary setting). After a few of these grimly stark scenes we do come to get it, Mr. Quilez. Edgar's life is the total sh--s and there is little hope that it's ever gonna get any better. In fact, it's an absolute wonder that this poor fellow is even still motivated to remain clinging to life at all, such as it is. Which I suppose touches on the apparent theme of the innately powerful longing for human touch alive in us all. But still, there's really no point in beating the set-up to this eternal truth to death, is there?

So as not to potentially spoil what I found to be a nearly entirely nonsensical and unsatisfying denouement, suffice to say that Edgar may or may not have discovered a reason to carry on.

But by this time "Graffiti" has carried on for far longer than has our inspiration to truly care.