Graffiti

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.