Let Me Go

An experimental short film with surrealism.

This piece of filmmaking appears to be focusing on the life of an unnamed young man, who seems to be living a solitary life in a house, in the countryside.

There is hardly a narrative here, with no spoken words or even written words to help provide clues regarding what is going on here, who is this man and what is his current situation. Beginning with establishing shots of mountains in the desert, oceans, the sky and clouds, the film then moves on to the protagonist and the audience observes him as he engages in a variety of simple activities that include reading a book, washing his hands, taking a shower or sitting in a swimming pool. Things get more complicated with the arrival of a woman who appears to be his partner and a mysterious and sinister-looking figure that seems to be a woman wearing a black gown and having her face coveres in some kind of heavy makeup that makes her look beautiful and threatening at the same time. From then on, the film keeps on cutting bewteen the man by himself, him having intercourse with his partner and the strange figure wondering around without an obvious reason.

What the film is about is probably open to interpretation. It appears to be exploring loneliness, nostalgia and depression, as the man gives the impression that he is lonely and suicidal because he puts his head underwater in the pool, presumably to drown himself and the sex scenes might be his memories of a relationship that ended. And the bizarre, otherworldly figure? She could be a manifestation of the man's nightmares and emotional wounds.

As mentioned, there is no speech, instead the audio begins with chanting and then whispering that carries on throughout the film, accompanied by a wonderful piano score.

There are awkward camera movements and quite a few repetitions, meaning shots that are shown again and again. What is the point of this? Not very clear. There are creative lighting techniques and frequent use of split screen and superimposition.

Three things stand out in this short. One is the dark figure, another is the piano melody and the other are the sex scenes, which are quite intimate. If these three are taken away, what is left that provides any sort of significance here? Not much.