Graffiti

The short film Graffiti takes us on a journey through the life of a young man named Edgar who is left alone, hopeless in a city evacuated due to a tragic accident. The viewers have no background information about the man or the city other than the fact that "the incident" occurred 7 years ago. Edgar was somehow left behind and is now alone in the unknown city with only his Dog keeping him company. We also see that during the day he goes out into the city to search for things he can take home with him like books and resources such as canned foods and water. As he walks through the town, he also carries a radiation detector and spray paint when he enters buildings, and marks an asterix where it is contaminated and an O where it is safe. One day he comes home, and finds "ANNA" spray painted on one of his walls. At first he was startled, but then he realized that the name meant that he isn't in this city alone. From there on out Edgar and Anna start communicating through the wall, but Edgar never sees Anna.

In my opinion, the film Graffiti was very well done. Everything from the somber lighting and isolated wide shots to the insight into Edgar's life through experiencing it with him, was executed tastefully and with purpose. With every new shot and scene there were endless symbols left for analysis by the director. Even what seemed to be small details such as gloomy trees in the background were carefully articulated. Right from the beginning of the film they were obstructing the environment around them and drew attention to themselves by how much of the shot they took up in multiple scenes. In my mind, they also served as a symbol. Trees usually symbolize life and growth whereas in the film they all seem dead in a place of decay and destruction. It shows a juxtaposed meaning with not only the trees but the city, as a symbol of something that once thrived and held life which is now left deserted and forgotten.

Another notable thing to mention was the fact that almost everything in the film was left to the viewer's interpretation, which was very clearly made to do so. The director meant to make a very observable film to grab a viewer's attention by using suspense and making them think on every detail they otherwise wouldn't look twice at. Such as Edgar's relationship with Anna. From the start we know that Edgar is lacking a companion in his life, so when he starts communicating with Anna he starts to gain hope in what he thought was a hopeless, lonely world. Things seemed to be looking up for him, Anna seemed to help him survive. But as the film progresses, the possibility of Anna being real decreases and the likelihood that Edgar is imagining her as a coping mechanism increases. It puts the viewer at a crossroads on what to believe. It makes you look at everything and analyze it, looking for anything that hints at what's really happening. There was never a definitive answer on the reality of the events, only symbols and hidden meaning with which viewers could choose to piece together to form a conclusive ending. That's what I found so interesting about the way Graffiti was made, every individual watching has their own experiences and thoughts which they use to form a view of the film. Every person's interpretation will be different, and therefore the plot of the film has endless ways of unraveling.

Graffiti was filmed in Chernobyl which I find very significant to the film and the tone that it's set in. The Chernobyl disaster took place in 1986 in the town of Pripyat, found in northern Ukraine. It was a nuclear tragedy which left nearly 14,000 people evacuating their homes and leaving everything behind out of fear of their belongings being contaminated by radiation. The tragedy, along with the fact that nearly everything was left as is, sets a very eerie setting for the film and establishes a sense of mystery while invoking feeling in viewers.

Lluis Quilez, the director of the short film Graffiti stated in an interview that his intent with the film was to "talk about the Platonic or idealized love for someone whom you can not see". I think that he achieved this beautifully. His universalized ideas and concepts reiterate this idea of love with a hidden person by taking viewers through the intriguing love story of Edgar and Anna. In the film, when Edgar started communicating with Anna through graffiti on the wall, I immediately thought of technology and social media. Currently, almost everyone communicates through the internet in one way or another. There are countless dating apps, websites, and social media outlets out there which are used daily by the majority of the world's population. So many people meet and in some cases fall in love over texting online, and like Edgar with the graffiti, oftentimes it is mainly through a barrier. Whether it be a screen or a wall, you have no idea who is on the other side. It can be who you think it is but it can also be someone completely different from what you thought. This furthers the idea of idealized love established by Quilez where an individual falls in love with someone who they don't truly know. On one hand it shows that love is border-less and possible even when you don't fully know a person, but on the other hand, not entirely knowing who you are communicating with can be a disappointment when you uncover the reality.

I would highly recommend this film to mystery lovers and people who enjoy analysis, because within the short 30 minutes in which this film takes place, there is so much to unpack and think about. The entire plot and especially the ending is inconclusive, there is no definitive answer for anything which means you get to analyze and interpret the film and it's ending as you see fit. Even though I love this film, I understand why others wouldn't. A lot of people like to know what's happening during a film and have a happy, or at least conclusive ending, but the ending of Graffiti ends with an unbelievable cliffhanger that leaves you at the edge of your seat. The film also has a mysterious feel to it which some viewers who prefer happier films may not like as it leaves you with an eerie feeling and uncertainty.