A SIGN
by Amanda Lomonaco

Review of the short film.
Played at the September 2015 WILDsound FEEDBACK Film Festival.
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/september_2015_film_festival.html

This one left me intrigued, and a little confused, but I couldn’t help but love it. It follows a mature Belgian prostitute who has lost her faith in God, and tries to find a greater meaning in life. The symbolism in the film is enormous, of course the title itself leaves you constantly searching for “signs”, symbolism, and messages that could hint at the final conclusion.

If nothing else touches you about this film, the cinematography ia absolutely brilliant. I felt like I could have watched this film on mute, and I still would have thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the images parading across the screen. The contrast in colours, the lighting, the set dressing, it all helps convey the main character’s state of mind, and the “signs” that constantly surround her, silently trying to reach her.

One of my favourite things about short films, is when they make you think you could watch them a dozen times and come up with a different interpretation every time. A Sign certainly achieves this purpose. The film tells you just enough to allow you to understand the plot, without explaining every aspect that goes on. It leaves you to wonder, and to guess what made the main character so joyful in what should have been such a miserable moment. It leaves you to piece together all the different moments in the film, and break them into their individual “signs” to build the puzzle of its full meaning.

It’s often quite easy for experimental, poetic, and artistic films to leave with a sense of question. To open up a realm for numerous interpretation, and emotional response. It’s quite rare, however, for a film that follows a traditional storyline structure to achieve the same feat. There is very little that is abstract about A Sign, and yet so much of it is left to personal interpretation.

As I said, I would easily watch this film on mute, if nothing else to just enjoy the beauty of it. I would even watch it several times over, just to see how much of it I could piece together. I’m still not quite sure if there was a moral to this film, or quite what the ending was intending to achieve, and still I can’t wait to get a chance to see it again.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of A SIGN:

Deadline TODAY to Submit your Short Film, Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

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