Citroen

Citroen, written by Rick Vosse and directed by Bastiaan Rook, is a humorous mockumentary short-film following a charismatic cult leader. The twist? He doesn’t want to be a cult leader. But, with his disciples dead set on following him no matter what, he finds himself in a desperate position.

Rook and Vosse employ a documentary style to great effect, utilising quick zoom ins/ outs and dirtying the frame with bushes and other obstacles to give the impression that there is a camera operator improvising every movement behind the scenes. Which, of course, there is. But the ability to make something meticulously planned feel improvised is a feat that director of photography Stijn Jonkhart rises to with (what looks like) ease. Jonkhart also utilises natural light in exterior scenes to great effect, elevating this piece beyond the visuals you would expect from a “documentary”. The interior scenes are also lit beautifully by Kenny Nagelkerke to emulate natural light to the point where one cannot be sure how much is real and how much is artificial. Spectacular work from the cinematography and lighting team!

The first character the audience is introduced to is Danny, who produces a bottle of poisonous fluid from his bag. Immediately viewers will clock on to this as an example of "Chekhov's gun” (Anton Chekhov’s principle that “one must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off”.) This creates a humorous tension, giving the story a ticking clock feeling – a bomb under the table that could go off at any moment.

The central concept of the piece is a brilliant idea, depicting something as absurd as a cult and flipping it on its head. We follow Jonah who, to little success, continually attempts to convince his followers to abandon him in increasingly obvious and comical ways.

The story drags in the middle somewhat as the structure becomes glaringly obvious: Jonah tries something in an attempt to scare the cultists off, it doesn’t work, then he heads back to the drawing board. However, the conclusion of all this hooks the viewer right back in as the aforementioned Chekhov's bottle comes back into play, in an ironic twist of fate that is equally funny as it is deeply tragic.

Overall Citroen is an amusing short that, while predictable, is sure to entertain its audience and anyone else who comes across it.