The Chair

The Chair centers around a young boy's experience during an infectious outbreak called "the mould", which takes place after the sudden death of his mother - patient zero. The young boy narrates the film, and often talks about his mother's chair, or what other people have had to say about the chair. The cinematography and editing style combined with the sound engineering, make up all the great hall marks of a psychological horror, and it makes for very interesting social commentary on an epidemic nowadays. In particular the scene of the masked children swaying on the school bus is very interesting to see knowing it was nine years ago. I would highly recommend this short film to anyone who has twelve minutes and likes a good ambient thinker, especially in this day and age where the plot has much more relatability.

Men in white suites swarm the infected home, ridding it of the poisonous mold that has killed hundreds. Director and writer Grainger David relates his short film to similar childhood events. He grew up in South Carolina and was ten years old when Hurricane Hugo hit. The aftermath was described as "distopian" with water damage and mold all over the ceilings. This memory shaped the haunting film, The Chair.

The mysterious and chilling film follows through the eyes of a boy reflecting on his traumatic past. While trying to make sense of the solemn events rupturing the world around him, he discovers a cherished object that could be the cause of his problems. The Chair captures the relationship between nature and mankind through various cinematic effects such as lighting, angles, and tone of voice. I would reccomend this film to anyone who enjoys small town films and dramas. Although this was a great film, I wish the ending was more clear about the narrarators last words about the mold and how it all started. The viewer is left wondering what caused the mold and why it went away.

After the passing of a small town devastation, a young boy recounts the tale of how a poisonous mold in an old living room chair, sponsors the undoing of his life. The opening lines of the film detail a reflective and progressive unfolding of the events that lead up to the death of his mother, in her favourite chair, while slowly providing a glimpse into life under a health crisis. In the eyes of his town, the mold became the unspoken object of fear, uncertainty and death, capable of imposing itself on unsuspecting victims. The mystery behind the source of the mold shakes the very fabric of his community by creating opinionated stances on its treatment and meaning. The science world deemed the mold to be an unpreventable occurrence even though the source remained unknown. The school claimed to have an understanding of it all, teaching their students the basic standard of care, while being confused and petrified themselves. The church called for the start of a curse, a hex almost, that surfaced as a result of a fallen enemy. With these perspectives, the boy found no solace in trying to locate the source of his hurt. All he and his grandmother knew was that the chair his mother once sat in, which once gave her rest and entertainment, now proved to be the source of her demise. If it were only for the chair...

Stylistically, the film imposes mystery through the boy's account of "men in white" to "yellow tape" surrounding the home and their possessions alongside the complaint of a smell that only he could locate. This attention to eerie details told as a past event displays the protagonist's understanding of the events occurring around him with a child-like innocence in explaining complex situations. He often adds an effective outlet for comedic relief through almost unrelated detail in the description of seemingly forgettable features. This aids to redirect the audience's attention to the subtle transitions and internal conflict that him and his grandmother feel towards the chair, a symbol of the past and the perpetuation of their suffering. The hatred they both share towards the chair soon becomes the source of captivity for them as it reentraps them to the beginning of their misfortune. In the end, the young black male describes an unlikely infatuation with the subtlety of the mold being able to consume all that it saw and reduce everything around it to itself. He later describes how he wishes to have been consumed in the same way, slowly taken over by a mold that unifies the victims it steals and slowly returns to the ground.

This film is an excellent representation of helplessness and individuals in need of answers rather than subtleties. It appeals to those who desire a solution or final answer from their society or imminent surroundings only to be presented with inconclusivity. The film shows how navigating through inconclusivity gradually costs the loss of objectivity, where the boy and his grandmother resulted in hatred for the chair. It is through the exploration on this truth, told through film shines in.

Brilliant short film which deservedly received 1 of 10 coveted spaces in the official Cannes Film Fest competition last May, and played to a sold out crowd. The Chair has been sweeping the film festival circuit with "Best Short" and "Best Director" win after win.

It is so rare to see such a masterpiece in short filmmaking. Every aspect of the film craft was excellent from the acting to the story to the cinematography to the editing to the sound design to the music to the lighting, etc. This film rings true of the Southern life of a people living on the other side of the tracks, in a genre all too often riddled with cliché after cliché, but Grainger David adeptly handles what very well could be true of "mold" in the mossy bayou-filled Southern states. This film is mesmerizing and unforgettable. Grainger David is a director to watch. The Chair is a must see.

The Chair opens with a pan out shot looking up at a tree and the sky, below which a deadly mold infests a small town. A boy narrates the following story, exploring his family's experience with his mother's death due to mold, and the community's experience throughout this mysterious plague.

Written and directed by Grainger David, the film is a fully realized exploration of childhood innocence, memory, and grief. Every last detail of the film has clearly been precisely decided to convey the uncanny tone, and enthralls the audience in a gripping narrative. The sound mixing, score, visuals, and screenplay all mesh seamlessly, giving the film an enchanting and believable perspective from the view of this young boy. Accompanied by a melancholy score, the understated nature of the directing holds the audience intrigued but unsettled throughout, unable to look away from this just-a-little-too-realistic masterpiece.

Every factor of this film is cohesive, but immediately the sound mixing and score stand out and define the thematic atmosphere of reflection, and a strange dissonance. Beyond the drawn-out piano composition itself, the direction once again shines in the careful decision of when to phase in and out the melody. In the moments when sounds of nature overtake the audio, or when a slight ringing occurs, the dichotomy of the natural and unnatural is emphasized. Combined with the powerful and quiet performances of the actor and voice actor of the main character, these moments of tension truly draw the audience to lean closer in to their screens despite a nagging fear of where the story will lead. The story's direction fulfills every expectation of meaningful disquietude, encompassing an entire community's experience through the eyes and voice of this grieving boy. By paralleling the shots of the overgrowth of nature with the deadly, looming, and unexplained moss, David presents themes of interconnection, and a collectiveness between all that exists in nature. The conclusion of this film absolutely lives up to every tense expectation, and is unsettling to the core, as we learn that the most mysterious aspect of this film is not the mold, but the narrator himself.

Overall, this is a meticulously considered film that excels in many aspects. One criticism of the cohesiveness is the slight disconnect between the apparent ages of the voice actor and physical actor of the main character. It almost sounds as if the narrating voice is younger than the boy on the screen, however the voice is meant to be reflecting on his past self, who presents as older. The performances were still great, and the only flaw in the story itself is the slightly-unbelievable public access to a biohazardous garbage dump. These are small choices by the filmmakers however, and are not noticeable enough to take from the experience of the film as a whole.

I would rate this film 10/10, and would recommend it to any who are eager to absorb a fully realized narrative, that may be light on action, but use all facets of filmmaking to convey the journey of this grieving boy.