The surrealist music video reimagines the myth of Sisyphus where he was cursed to repeat the same task of pushing a boulder up a mountain every day for eternity. Using the myth as inspiration, Sisyphos introduces us to a woman who presents a basket of bread to a singularly unique group of people in a church. She watches it get devoured within a few minutes, only to return to the task of baking more bread soon after. 

The images that are thus used to delineate the process are taken a step further and suffused with symbolism and metaphors of their own. While the idea of cyclicality of life is conjured, it is coupled with a sense of openness of the vast outdoors where eventually the protagonist surrenders herself. The carnality of the visuals unfolding before you employ tight close-ups to invoke a sensuality that is loud and clear in the message it delivers to the viewer.

 The well-thought visual development is coupled with Acid Pauli‘s remix of Johanna Burnheart‘s ‘Sisyphos’ to present the music video as a cohesive whole. It does a notable job of drawing you in its world of strange beings and their stranger acts, and ties it all together with a track that ensures that, as you try to comprehend the drama unfolding before you, your immersion in its otherworldliness and surrealism remains constant throughout.

Sisyphos | Short Film of the Day

A man and woman sit across the table from each other on a date. The woman is clearly uneasy in the circumstance, not really enjoying the manner in which the conversation is unfolding. The situation is plain and direct, and yet, before the viewer can conclude it thus, the most strange development occurs within the plot - the presence of an unexplained television set that haunts the protagonist. 
 
Alongside this seemingly omnipresent entity, Meg’s love life moves ahead, but not in a direction desired by her. After several attempts to avoid her date’s calls, she reluctantly agrees to meet him again, while the foreboding presence of the screen continues to become more overwhelming. 

Whether you want to read the narrative as a parable of modern day dating, insecurities, acceptance and identity, or a woman’s inability to say no, or of a person seeking comfort outside heteronormative structures, it could perhaps mean all or none of them. Consequently, if one were to attach their own meaning to each symbol and metaphor, ‘Loom’ would be a difficult film to unpack, and thus, it should be consumed as the surreal ride it is, marked not only by elements of sci-fi and psychological horror, but also the absurd when you least expect it.

Most Viewed

Genres

Awards

Follow Us

Quick Links