Thursday: This is She

Thursdays are for short films recs, and I loved “This is She”, an inspiring bit of magical realism directed by Tarik Karam, written and produced by Grace Rex. It’s about a woman making a new, slow start in a small, unfurnished apartment after going through some personal difficulties with which she is clearly still struggling. Her issues manifest as a weird, furry lump on the wall. She can’t hide it, because it moves everyday, and she can’t just scrape it off and throw it out because it reappears. It’s a part of the decor, a part of her home, and thus a part of her.

 

The blank space left by the “She” in the title emphasises, I think, the broad appeal that this film is meant to have. It’s easy to connect with if you’ve been through similarly hard times and found your way through them or want to. After my experiences last year and general tendency to be an awkward mess, I certainly found it light and comforting 🙂

Thursdays … The Pride of Strathmoor

Aaand I’m home alone, late at night, watching horror to find something for today’s short film post. As with yesterday’s short story recommendation, I found what I was looking for in the American gothic genre. The Pride of Strathmoor is creepy as fuck, not so much because of the story, but because of the deeply unsettling animation and the whispered narration. That voice sounds so very … close.

Please note that this short film may cause seizures if you’re sensitive to flashing/flickering content.

Thursdays… Ayamé

Thursdays, I’ve decided are going to be for sharing short film and videos (It was going to be Mondays, then Tuesdays, then Wednesdays, but I procrastinate.) Today it’s Ayamé, a proof of concept for a sci fi film that I hope will get made largely because of the gory organic-industrial suit and the massive sniper rifle you see here. It gives me warm, fuzzy memories of playing Lilith and Maya in Borderlands, where I spent A LOT of time patiently splattering skulls into blood and bone with similarly oversized sniper rifles. I’m just whimsical like that.

Irish film-maker Conor Maloney couldn’t afford to make a feature-length film, so he instead he cashed in his life-insurance policy to make this rather slick piece that he hopes will give the project a future.

Visually, I find it thoroughly satisfying, although that dramatic pose gets dragged out for just a tad too long, a bit like The Force Awakens. Narratively, it’s a cool little story seed. A seed for something I’ve seen/read plenty of times before, perhaps, but something I enjoy nevertheless. The John Hurt voiceover feels slightly incongruous, partly because it reminds me of a nature documentary, and partly because I feel that it jars with the closing image of a beautiful assassin with a colossal gun. The idea of life persisting despite all the things that threaten to snuff it out presumably refers to her survival, and the survival of whatever damaged world she comes from, but one look at her and I want her to start killing, asap, preferably in hi-def, thank you.

I’m not sure if there’s been an progress on Ayamé, but if you want to know more, you can watch the making-of video, or check out the Ayamé Facebook page, where there are links to several articles and Conor will presumably post any updates.