CATACLYSM

CATACLYSM is a cinematic music short piece, a passion project born from the idea of the writer, director, and producer, Marcell Betlej. The filmmakers aimed to create a piece that bridged the worlds of surrealism and grounded reality through the mediums of dance and music. Marcell Betlej wanted the visual storytelling of the video to remain separate from being described as a music video to accompany the producers of the music and, preferably, to have its own singular directorial vision.

It's evident from the awe-inspiring opening wide shot of the sky with the clouds in the centre that there is a distinct vision the filmmakers clearly aimed to set out. This is a jaw-dropping formal decision, and the cinematographer Milán Maruszki clearly has a keen eye for spectacle and drawing an audience into a piece of filmmaking from the landscapes alone. While the majority of the runtime consists of fixed camerawork, the delivery of extreme close-ups and the shallow depth of field is effectively implemented, although sometimes over-relied upon. The shifting aspect ratios can become jarring; however, they are an effective tool that anchors the frenetic edit from Marcell Betlej. This ultimately makes the experience pulse-pounding, accompanied by some pulsating music that works alongside the VFX. Visually, the piece at times feels claustrophobic with its use of surrealism and the incredible fantastical elements that close in on the central characters' dance choreography. Even with its minimal budget, the VFX are genuinely fantastic.

Brigitta Egyed's dance choreography is breathtaking and consistently engaging to witness, thanks to Egyed’s committed central performance that never lets up until the end of the piece. However, it can become repetitive after a while and grating towards its conclusive moments thanks to a lack of thematic prowess visually. While its heart is clearly in the right place with the profound passion that lingers behind and in front of the camera, the piece sadly fails to elicit anything that is thought-provoking outside of its camerawork and central performance. Creating a bridge that blurs the line between the ‘world of unseen’ and grounded reality is an interesting concept on paper; however, the short-lived runtime and lack of visual symbolism make the whole experience feel undercooked and diminish its staying power after its conclusion. Perhaps tying the thematic nature of the music more with the visual flair could have anchored its symbolism and made the experience ultimately more rewarding. The conclusion to the piece also wraps up abruptly and, unfortunately, doesn't showcase anything that is momentous outside of its ambitious offerings formally. However, as a debut project, it's still an exciting piece of work that displays Marcell Betlej’s technical prowess and leaves the door open for more compelling work from him down the line.

CATACLYSM is an ambitious independent offering from Marcell Betlej that demonstrates an exciting new voice, as his expertise as a writer, director, and editor is truly splendid. His commitment to perfecting the dance choreography is also commendable alongside Brigitta Egyed. It may suffer from offering fairly minor metaphorical symbolism outside of blurring the line between the ‘world of unseen’ and grounded reality, and tedious imagery. However, Brigitta Egyed’s dance performance is electrifying, and it boasts some astounding VFX along the way, even with its shortcomings.