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First, the Recap:
How can we always interpret the true depth of emotions in play when it comes to relationships that have meant the most to us but then are suddenly ripped away? As human beings, the complexities of attachment, trust, and lasting connection can be both fulfilling and hurtful based on what factors are driving us forward. If we have given so much of ourselves to another, experiencing the bliss it elicits but only to then have it ruptured, can we find the means to cope with the ensuing loss we then feel?
Over the course of a series of reflective lyrically-driven instances, a lone woman (Alessi Laurent-Marke) finds herself exploring the myriad of sensations associated with the wake of a recently broken romance whose aftermath has deeply impacted her. As she first seems somewhat positive about what once was, it soon turns to a more heartbreaking realization of what is now no more, the distance from it, the pain, and the repercussions of it all that could threaten to swallow her whole.
Next, my Mind:
As eccentric in its execution and visual style as it is with the chosen song making up its narrative context, this five and half minute music video from filmmaker/professional photographer Samuel Féron yet again pushes the creative envelope through its “outside the box”, experimental cinema approach while, in this critic’s opinion, redefining the entire notion of what a short film can be. In a similar overall fashion to another of Féron’s recent projects, “Matter!” (reviewed here), this actual music video for the effort’s namesake, performed by the artist Alessi’s Ark, certainly proves that filmmaking CAN indeed ascend above and beyond its prototypical formats and deliver a more fresh interpretation of artistic endeavor, visual lushness, and stirring meaning without requiring it all to be contained JUST within the standard concepts of WHAT traditional filmmaking is. Hence, the very core of experimental perspective that acknowledges a music video AS a film.
As with “Matter!” (which, yes, DID utilize a more direct narrative-guided path), Féron once more deftly employs the beautifully esoteric majesty of his photographs in combination with the soothing yet still affectingly potent, strongly atmospheric sonic tapestry of the song in question to usher forth its highly distinctive foray into the realms of a relationship gone astray, the laments it has initiated within the song’s primary character, and the potential hints of its ripple effect being encountered. As with indie films, indie music offers its own magnitudes of purposefully veiled substance in lyrical content, causing the listener to really require digging into the words and attempting to pull forth what is being conveyed in order to then comprehend it all better. I will freely admit here that I myself most assuredly requested some baseline interpretation from Féron so as to then take in the song again and again with those ideas in mind.
What actually blows my mind is that, in view of this little bit of assistance for understanding, the images and words really DO make sense in context of what the song in bringing out for its main theme of fractured love and the consequences manifesting within someone who’s trying their best to deal with it without total meltdown of self and emotional stability. It’s a study, and subsequently an exercise, IN being able to make the best aim to figuratively “read between the lines” through the song’s words while also assessing how the accompanying imagery adeptly immerses you in said emotional sea of undulating waves, tangles of jungle foliage, rocky coastlines, misty islands, shrouded hills, and other visually significant elements made to represent all of what the song is alluding to, making the imagery and the song become ONE, ultimately intwined entity that communicates everything intended quite magnificently. It is an EXPERIENCE to watch.
This IS the wonder of not just looking at music video in a different manner, but experimental cinema as well, and this critic more than believes it is projects in this vein like Féron is pursuing that will, again, challenge the status quo but more so (ideally and hopefully) prompt lovers of film to have a willingness to go beyond the mainstream and give heed to other forms of this more imaginative, even innovative, form of filmmaking. Independent artists are masters of tossing aside what’s “normal” as it is, and to have more chances to see music videos wrapped in a short film shell like this, much less films using photographic visuals like here and “Matter!”, would be a welcome sight on our screens. This taps into a whole different mindset for us as people, opening up more ways to SEE things around us, and to confront them through the medium of film. Originality, unconventionality, boldness–three staples of what indie film gives to us.
Additionally, the sheer brilliance and undeniable magic of Féron’s photos used for this journey whisks you away as you are listening to the song itself, transporting you into the surrealistic landscapes and seascapes that so wonderfully pair with the song’s equally fantastical and moving framework. It not only captures all the foundational sentiments the song triggers, but really does dive into a wealth of underlying feelings as well, your eyes absorbing the stills as they meld from “scene” to “scene” in unity and harmony with the lyrics. It’s all about morphing the primary “mechanisms”–music, words, and images–together cohesively in order to construct what becomes the whole, and Féron has accomplished this again with such excellent results. So, in total, “Moonflower Submarine”, with its focus on being submerged under the realities and weight of emotively poignant and distressing circumstances as seen through the “eyes” of its protagonist, stands as a fantastic example of what unorthodox cinema can be–real, effective, accessible, transformative in its idiosyncratic designs, and perhaps showcasing the next evolution in filmmaking.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
