“Eyes Shut Wide” by Malak Faour

As some of you know, I haunt Twitter somewhat regularly. Malak Faour, a young filmmaker from the Twitterverse, asked me to comment on her short film… by now probably several months ago. I watched it, thought that there was enough here to comment on, and finally got around to writing down what I saw in it.

Premise:

The short film “Eyes Shut Wide” is simple, yet remarkably ambitious. It conveys through a sense of magical realism a simple story of human connection. The film depicts a wounded man in a hospital room who silently makes a connection with his hospital roommate.

Delivery:

This is where the ambition really appears. Telling a film about sight (or lack thereof) cuts to the heart of the filmmaker’s life. This is a story about vision told in strict visual storytelling. There is no dialogue. The story is told only through the action and the glances between the actors. All of the action takes place in one room within a few minutes.

By choosing not to use any spoken language and focusing solely on the visual aspects, the story is more accessible to an international audience and people who want to absorb things visually. I think of this material more in tune with Vimeo, which is more oriented towards serious filmmakers making strong, visually compelling dramatic material rather than YouTube, which I think more of as a video blogging and humor site. However, seeing dramatic material like this on a site like this is breath of fresh air.

There are some nice touches in the cinematography, such as the way the lines of the drawing move in and out of focus.

Actors:

The actors picked have amazingly compelling faces. Everyone is photogenic and moves the story forward. Because the story is told in glances and facial expressions, the actors have a lot of the “heavy lifting” of the film on their shoulders. They convey an inner life that is interacting with the outer world. Not the easiest thing to do in a silent short.

The only quibble (and it is a minor one) is that for the story being told, there should be a little more range of ages.

Challenges:

The use of copyrighted music, while effective, is definitely something you should not do in future projects, especially if you want to enter them in contests or to sell the film. While the music does set the mood, it is also possible to set a tone and feeling through the cinematography.

The way the picture lost focus around the edges was compelling; should be more of it. Because the man with the damaged eye is the emotional center of the film, the visuals should reflect what the world looks like to someone with a damaged eye. This could lead to hazy visuals and wild changes in light levels. Especially at the beginning, the story could start visually confused but begin to sharpen as soon as the bandages are taken off.

Also, the actors are all approximately the same age. This is a dead giveaway that this is a student production. By simply changing the age of the hospital staff worker to someone who is distinctively different from the patients, you will add a sense of realism and diverse elements within the film. This would emphasize the connection between the two patients as well show how that they might feel alienated from the rest of the world around them.

Because there is a degree of ambiguity in the story and because it is so short, it encourages people to watch the film multiple times. “Huh? Did what I think happened, just happen?” This is where the film could benefit from little treasures in the set design or in the background. That way, when someone watches the film more than once, that person would be rewarded with little visual flourishes, puns, or enriching details to notice upon repeat viewing.

And I’ll throw this in as a minor nit as well. I’ve worked in a hospital. There are a number of little details here that will be distracting to anyone who’s ever worked in a hospital, because they aren’t true to how a hospital environment works. However, the story is magical in nature and isn’t going for Gritty Hospital Drama, so I don’t think that’s particularly important.

Summary:

I really enjoyed this short film. It contains a lot of emotion as well as a lot of promise from the talent involved. I look forward to seeing more short films from this director.