Arun Babu’s short film ‘Phantasmagoria’ is visually impressive. The camera work and editing is never dull or simple which promotes the film’s central question; is it reality or just a dream? What begins as two seemingly separate narratives becomes an indistinguishable knot of reality, illusion and mental images. The protagonist, Vignesh, must untangle this knot in order to finish his script and present it to a producer.
Not knowing the state of reality casts a certain light on events in the film. For example, Vignesh becomes convinced his friend has stolen the manuscript at several points throughout the film. Without any notion of what is really happening, the audience have no solid foundations to build any judgements on. Similarly, the tense moments with the characters, later named Mr X, Mr Y and Mr Z, are difficult to react to as we are unable to calculate where their motives or even their place in the narrative lies. However this state of unknown did not happen by accident and has in fact been carefully orchestrated by Babu.
Eventually it materialises that three of the characters are actually part of Vignesh’s creative process, featuring in his script. This would appear to clear up any mystery but instead leads us further into the unknown. Vignesh seems to think one of these men has taken his script and somehow he is able to physically confront what we thought was only a figment of his imagination. Later in the film, the existence of the one character we thought was certainly real – Vignesh’s friend, comes into question. There are several shots where the two men merge into one another which suggests that perhaps he never existed at all. This would lead to a more psychological explanation of events and perhaps point to a mental instability in Vignesh. Eventually, however, it becomes irrelevant what is real and what is imaginary as Vignesh makes it to the producer’s interview with not one but two scripts.
It is impossible not to write specifically about the camera work, editing and sound engineering in this film as they all are all outstandingly creative. Describing the unique cinematography of the film, however, would not do it justice therefore I highly recommend anyone with an interest in camera work watches this! Arun Babu has triumphed here with a uniquely executed film that never truly lets the audience know what is happening.
Watch ‘Phantasmagoria’ on YouTube now!
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