What a beautiful, intimite, subtle and intense film. It reflects a truth we don’t know yet. Alzheimer, dementia. This is what it must be like. Mark Zuniga succeeds in picturing the life of a man who starts loosing his memory. The shortcuts in the brain, the memorygaps, the desperate search for something he can relate to. How the most familiar things in the house become estranged objects. I’ve seen films on Alzheimer before, but the experience never came so close.
On his everyday walk to the park, the man passes another man, who always starts to talk to him. The next day, the same talk. But our man can’t remember and it makes him feel uneasy. The third day, the man is avoiding the chatting neighbour. What a subtle way to show that the man has no memory of meeting, but he does remember that feeling of unease. The intelligent script is full of subtleties like this.
The film is almost 20 minutes, and that is long. Not for the cinema perhaps, but on the internet, one is inclined to move on. That was what I did, the first time i clicked on the film and only saw black, the first 1.30 minute. I am very glad that I clicked on it again, and saw it till the end. It is more than worth it. Because unlike most short films, this film ends with an intense emotion. Mark Zuniga build up to that emotion, very patiently, very precise, with beautiful photography and great contrivance.
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