If I’m not there, then who is? — a question the main character of the film is deeply preoccupied with. The existential question dwells throughout the narrative, leading us through the dream-like state followed by a quest in the forest, eventually lingering in the viewers’ minds as seemingly no answer is available in this reality. Repetition is the easiest way in an attempt to come closer to a meditative state, to open one’s capacity to embrace the additional, at times, unattainable layers, which the heroine is willing to explore.
Once the action is complete, it stays in the past, accessible only through the memories. Fighting the possibility to forget the routine movements, the fear of losing their importance, the character, through repetition of the same steps, tried to linger in the state of her actions. The restless craving to break the boundaries, the blazing expectation of understanding what is beyond lead us towards the mystical cube, mesmerizing with its light. The tension between darkness and light, the living and the long time gone, painfully drills, touching all the memories accumulated since the beginning of it all. The sound plays an important role: water, distant voices, the rustle of the branches below the feet, the silence of the plants lead us back to the struggle between trying to stay awake and stepping outside the familiar boundaries to discover the new phase in existence. This conscious choice is critical in the narrative of the film as the path diverges in two directions. Recollecting Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both” one decision, one way, one possibility of unlocking the following experiences.
The cube stands for the unknown, the subconscious, the real, the never to take place. It beckons. It holds new possibilities. It is welcoming. It is dangerous. What if I could see myself from the third person’s perspective? What if it is my own perspective? What am I missing? Am I missing myself? Once the choice is made, the road back is blocked by the memory; however, the light prevails. There is still hope on this untrodden path. The film is leading towards the rediscovery of the self through disturbing thought processes. Shot on ARRI’s ALEXA Mini LF, Canon’s Auto Zoom 815 Super 8, and Bolex H16 — the film emphasizes the line that might be crossed and the balance that is sought.
