Apart

Calling this animated documentary anything less than the most beautiful delineation of two immutable truths of human existence - pain and death, would be a gross underestimation. At its conclusion, it won't be wrong to expect an overwhelming deluge of emotions, but one which is cathartic in nature. Nguyen deserves further appreciation for interacting with a film type, an animated documentary, which anyway is an ignored field of filmmaking, and thus does not boast of too many reliable fixed templates to turn to for inspiration. Yet, the filmmaker manages to offer the most seamless union of animation and live action.

The film shares the story of three characters and their encounters with death and the grief that followed in its wake. The narrative employs stunning animation to portray them. The timing, pacing, the manner in which the three parallel narratives are placed and inter-weaved with each other, allow the overarching story of the documentary to truly come into its own, be all that it can be, and more.

As colours and visuals bleed into the screen space, invoking a surreal reality of loss and heartache, inseparable from each other, a life of distractions, intoxicants, escapism and the eventual moving on is conjured for the viewer. The moving frames and lines become the most accurate representation of the transience of memory and the uncertainty of revisiting another's experience through their narrative. In the process, Apart manages to push the boundaries of animation to present a moving, poignant and surreal interaction with its subject matter.