UMBRA/Eclipse of the moon

• UMBRA/ECLIPSE OF THE MOON says volumes without a word. It's purely visual narrative which needs to be decoded. A Woman climbs up the stairs, perhaps her spirit on her way to the place that souls go to rest to. She falls into a pit of human shells, empty, like the rest. Her skin like cracked marble, devoid of color, devoid of life. She lies motionless atop a mountain of bodies, those who like her also tried to climb up to the promised peace and failed. Back in her childhood she meets her tormentor, a man of cruel appearance and even crueler intentions. The man opens oysters and blood pours from them, an allusion to sexual abuse. What has happened marks her for life. In her adulthood she's about to get married, dressed in white, but the attendants appear to be dead, made of stone, soulless shells like the ones that tried to climb the ladders and failed. They seem to accuse her, as if they knew of her childhood trauma and blamed her for what is not her fault. She runs, as the attendants try to seize her. She encounters her tormentor once more, but he hasn't aged a day. Perhaps this is a new man in her life, which reminds her of that other one from her childhood. A man just as cruel. In the end, she confronts her demons, her past, and her tormentor, finally seeing him for what he really is.

• UMBRA is a lush representation of what the subconscious looks like in the dream state. It's definitely ruled by dream logic, memories mixed and re-mixed from past present and perhaps even the future. Heavy on semiotics, each fragment tells a story, not with words, but in a purely visceral level. It's almost like a psychotherapy session, unlocking one's mysteries through hypnosis, regressing in time to different periods that have marked the woman's existence. But it is also spiritual, scenes of people climbing infinite ladders in the darkness speak of a soul trying to reach the divine, while being denied of it by her own guilt. A guilt that is not of her cause, but rather from shame, as if she felt she didn't deserve peace. UMBRA has placed a lot of thought on what it shows and what it says through images and sound and dance. There's things that cannot be explained with words, but with movement, action and visuals. A code that can only be shown and not told.

• This is a technical achievement, every element from cinematography, art direction, make-up, sound, editing choreography are top of the line. It's a short crafted with elegance, thoughtfulness and skill. The images and sounds possess a haunting beauty which can only be obtained through a determined vision, confident in its handle of cinema. UMBRA is visually mesmerizing, hypnotic, an example of what everyone involved is capable of making; an uncompromising vision, guiding cast and crew in the making of something unique, and more importantly something immersive.

UMBRA/ECLIPSE OF THE MOON is a sumptuous, intoxicating visual journey through the subconscious of the soul as memories from things past, present and perhaps even from the future collide to reveal secrets buried within a woman's mind and heart