The Last Snow

The writer-director Shayan Naghibi utilises literary devices like symbolism and connotation of snow to bring out the necessary life lessons he wants to communicate through the movie.

The plot of The Last Snow revolves around the idea that everything can be lost just like snowfall and it can disappear like the fall of the last snowflake.

The short film begins with a black screen along with an eerie sound in the background as the name-The Last Snow appears on the screen elevating the subject matter it deals with and also attempting to increase the degree of audience engagement with the content. The set design, a combination of black, and white as well as a blue tint colour palette, dim lighting, lamp lighting, natural lighting, sound, camera angles, old damp wallpapers, rains, snow, and props brilliantly depict time- lapse a photographic/camera technique to showcase the necessary changes people experience in life and therefore developing many skills required to combat all the challenges life throws at us. The light bulb continuously going on and off as the narrative moves forward can portray the struggle between life and death to survive another day. The continuous rains can signify sadness, melancholy or introspection, chaos, conflict, or disaster illustrating different moods people experience while adapting to various situations. The sound of the wall clock ticking indicates the precious special moments that must be cherished.

In terms of performance, The Last Snow is an animation, experimental short film that introduces us to extreme weather with rain and snow and an empty house with some eerie sounds and props but no dialogue. Shayan Naghibi along with his crew has done a wonderful job with on-point animation skills making sure of maintaining factors like continuity, realism, and relatability, especially with the short running time. The Last Snow has an open ending therefore giving the audience freedom to interpret it as they want to.

The Last Snow talks about life being short and unpredictable so one shouldn’t take anyone for granted. The short film teaches its viewers that change is the only constant and time well spent with people one cares about is the best way to cherish it because everything materialistic cannot find someone the happiness, as well as satisfaction one is hoping for in their journey from the mother’s womb to the graveyard. The cinematic piece reiterates that just like snow life also has happy days and sad days to create a perfect balance giving people the choice of making it beautiful as well as blissful for themselves and their families or vice versa.

To conclude, I would like to appreciate Shayan Naghibi and his team for going forward with a simplistic approach breaking free from mainstream filmmaking for this project to make the audience understand the theme without diverting attention between dialogues, character arcs, costume, hair, and makeup using unconventional techniques and ideas making it interesting for those who like to experiment with their watch list.