Movie Critique - “Vine”
Scene from “Vine”
A three minutes short piece that tells a story of a man stepped into the lift and brings back the unpleasant childhood memories. The video is a fast pacing fragmented mood montage with the extensive use of symbols and metaphors, experimenting a triumph of lyricism over narrative.
‘Vine’ referring to the plant that climbs or grows along the ground and has twisting stems, the director cleverly drew an analogy between ‘vine’ and haunted memories from the pass. Creeping vine encroached every corners of the scenes, reflecting a suppressed stage of mind and the corrupted inner world of the character.
Red balloons portrayed a devilish wickedness, the visual image helps to sublime the tensions and mirror the stress of the protagonist. In the last scene, a floating red balloon stay inside the door-closing elevator perceive the message of a un-resolved situation. Character simply cannot let go the past and all the memories remain as a torment.
Without a doubt, the film reached a certain level of visual excellency, a truly exquisite mood piece with exceptional production design (ie. grand piano, balloons, a majestical concert hall, vine, etc). The ravishing images are tinged with bizarre and nostalgic touch, hatching an imaginary fantasy foundation to facilitate the story-telling. The decorative garnish also ironically deepen the solitude hero’s vulnerable loneliness.
Proficiency in cinematography was applied in the movie, well use of camera movements and framing, able to utilised the camera to assist the story-telling. Particularly during the scene of the climax, the character was playing the piano with stimulate emotion, then here comes a tracking back shots to reveal a child standing behind his chair. This epic shots establish the theme of the movie (how is your childhood twining your future), simple but powerful.
Furthermore, the intense and radical sound designs serve the means of shaping the mood and tone of the story, bringing the short piece into next level. It is easy to notice the metronome impel the beats along with the advancement of story, the ticking sound accelerated gradually towards the climax scene. A breath-taking tension was created throughout the video and seized the curiosity of the audience. The uplifting editing rhythm (ie. smooth and fast paced match cut) joined together and maintain an unstoppable momentum of the story.
