The film packs a complete punch of humor, absurdity and the complete immersion of the viewer within its narrative. It bemuses you, and deliberately so, as it takes you into a day in Miles' life who wakes up to find a stain on his otherwise perfectly clean bedsheet. Amidst the lovely flamingos in the shade of the most aesthetically pleasing pink, rests a spot of a dirty brown-red. Thus begins Miles' bewilderment in unpacking the cause and reasons behind it. For the viewer who frequently engages with creative content, the instinct is to look for metaphors, symbolism and hidden meanings within this seemingly complex narrative. However this pursuit of meaning, this fixation with making sense of a regular story unfolding before you is no different from Miles' fixation with the stain. It is then in this manner that the protagonist and the viewer not only reach a space of overlap, but perhaps also doom themselves to the same fate of uncertainty in a world where absurdity reigns free, even in the face of all our desperate attempts to look for order, patterns or sense in the functionings of a possibly arbitrary universe.

Stain | Short Film of the Day

The film presents to us three seemingly unconnected narratives that glimpse into the lives of characters who would be anywhere but where they are. 

A man goes to a restaurant to read. After finding himself distracted at home, he literally physically moves himself from his immediate circumstance, and yet, here again, there is no sense of belonging to be found. A state of emotional unhappiness follows him, irrespective of the change in his physical space. The same is true of a young woman who wakes up with a start only to spend her first few waking moments doomscrolling on her phone. The movement that might have the potential of making either of the two feel even remotely better thus seems to be an internal journey, as opposed to an external, literal movement. 
The third circumstance is of a little girl who is entrapped in a world constructed by adults with virtually no power of her own. While adults might spew unsolicited life advice, her eyes remain wide with the inability to make sense of a world she finds herself located in. 
Without a single thread that emphasizes the explicit coherence of the three components of the narrative, a lot is left up to the viewer to take away from the film. Or perhaps the film’s job is to simply present disassociated, disconnected characters locked in a world of mindless consumption as well as creation of content. The emptiness and vapidity of it all indeed seem to be the underlying message of the film, the thread to tie it all together. Though the performance, screenplay, and narrative-building, all are achieved with skill and seamlessness, the obscurity inherent to the narrative might not be for every viewer. The door is left open for them to approach and interpret it in their own manner.

The Jokes | Short Film of the Day

When a disillusioned, overworked production assistant finds himself in the most unlikely situation one day, a story belonging to the realm of the absurd begins to unfold. ‘Mayonnaise’ presents a world which starts off as being extremely authentic to the space of a film set, more specifically, a food commercial, but soon devolves into a ride the viewer has just not seen coming. 

Once again, filmmaker Eli Spiegel’s (‘Stain’) voice and tonality dominates, presenting Sam’s bleak perspective regarding his career prospects, and his turning to Sarah, a young but seemingly successful producer on the commercial, in an impatient bid to figure out some sort of a career trajectory for himself. 

The first and the second half of the film, however, come across as disparate parts, unable to present a lucid link that ties them cohesively. Though the approach of the film is unique in its absurdity, it might leave some viewers wanting for a better cause and effect equation within the narrative. Either way, the end result remains deeply entertaining, brought to life with finesse as well as commendable performances and effortless chemistry between the actors.

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