In a room where galaxies appear in the cracks of the ceiling, and a clock shows no time, a man spends his existence robbed of memory and the coherency of what one may call ‘real life’. As the story marches forth, it presents a full circle from one ceiling to another - but does it always necessarily suggest movement or progress? 

The answer remains nestled within the narrative which engages with dark thematic concerns of the limits of domesticity, severe mental disorders, and old age. Metaphors and symbolism are replete in this realm - from images on the walls to those that visit a young man in his own reflection in the darkness of the night. By introducing us to three of its characters, a woman, her son, and her father-in-law, the film conjures its world for you with ease, presenting a powerful story that is executed with skill and seamlessness.

Chimera | Short Film Nominee

The short film offers a quiet glimpse into both old age and childhood, and the different kinds of limitations that afflict both stages of life. There is further the overlap, the common plain, which is reached by characters that belong to the two. Along with ideas of survival, the relentless human urge to always push forth, to get up again and continue walking, there is also a discussion on the forced maturity that is thrust upon a little girl who acts as guardian to her younger siblings. 

 All of these thematic concerns are explored by portraying an unfortunate situation that involves three children and an old man. The former exists on the margins of society, along with their dwelling in a remote part of the village. Every day, they head to the house of the old man, doing chores for him. They have found their own stability in this arrangement, even if it still leaves them exposed to the cruelties of a harsh world. 

 Soon, their reality is also afflicted by a circumstance we are all too familiar with by now, the Covid-19 pandemic. As shops get shut, taking from them their only source of dinner, and the old man takes to his bed, a harsher existence await the three. It is by the delineation of all these hardships that the film offers you insights into despair, poverty, hopelessness, helplessness, and the many obstacles that the children overcome each day, refusing to give in or let go just yet.

Grey Solar Game | Short Film Nominee

The film is an engagement with youth, love, its eventual end, and the heartache it leaves behind in its wake. The story is presented for the viewer through two near-parallel narratives that develop almost simultaneously. The Separation in Quicksand deserves brownie points for the manner in which it conceives and visualises its plot. The camerawork exhibits potential that can be explored further, as does the storytelling - the manner adopted by the film for its progression. However, a little want in performances and their execution prevents it from being all that it could have been in terms of lucidity and comprehension that is provided by the completed product for the viewer.

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