WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
WATCH THE FILM HERE with all proceeds going to the filmmakers!
First, the Recap:
The relevance and burden of significance. How we choose to locate, much less maintain, the essence of who we are day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year continues to be a sometimes tedious if unfulfilling adventure. When we’ve experienced connection and importance to a degree beyond what most people may have, to lose sight of it, or to simply see it slip away, becomes a mysterious and agitating state to be within. What will it take to rediscover that which once was, but might not be ever again? For a Creator (Natasha Rumyantseva), she realizes there is a journey incomplete and one that she not only must take, but also must ascertain if it will allow her to rekindle so much of what she now feels has been lost in her time over the world she has known for so long.
Next, my Mind:
It is a narrative filled with deep conjecture, many faceted interpretation, and a strong sense of uncovering and recognizing who you are again, a common theme among this year’s films at the 2020 Berlin Revolution Film Festival, and this 9-minute effort from Greek writer/director Melpomene Loukanidou and producer Maria Laskaridou deftly brings this to life through palpable emotional energy, voiceover narration as its primary dialogue, and sweeping imagery to capture its purposeful spirit. It that conscious path to repossess meaning and ideally find restoration of intent as it applies to, in this critic’s view, a being beyond human.
Now, I may be entirely off in assigning an almost “godhood” status to the project’s main protagonist, but given her title as “Creator” with a capital “C”, it at least lends itself to believing this is a much more cosmic level story than even the very humble, straightforward images that are contained throughout the tale might elicit on the surface. Yet, if this all be the case, it really provides the film with a highly grounded and relatable sensibility (yet again, one of THE hallmarks of indie cinema) as we follow this woman and her arising from slumber to go on what truly amounts to a personal pilgrimage to soothe a troubled, questioning soul.
Another concept is her returning to a specific location of momentousness that held specific sway over her being, perhaps a place where she first felt the love of those who esteemed her, or even actual, Earthly love, as she surveys all about her, bare to nature and her own restless thoughts, examining it, its validity and purpose, that has since slipped away. Does she see herself as an invasive presence now as opposed to a welcome visitor? Will there be any shelter for her to seek her own solace even if others beneath her have already long settled into theirs? Is all she desired to do was speak, yet all else in creation has now denied her? Can there ever be a return to the way it once was, or it is utterly lost forever?
The visual scope of the film is wonderfully shot by DP Konstantinos Giannakopoulos, catching all the vastness of the landscapes utilized for the film while also equally capturing the Creator’s most intimate moments with the same level of artistic objectives. Paired with the film’s narrative voiceover, it melds into a cohesive package that effectively and stirringly presents its aims with clear, albeit subtle and even eccentric, drive and substance. Like so much of the independent films I’ve seen over the years, it drives the viewer to actually have to think, to ponder, to contemplate what’s being shown, and then allow this to impact them individually as they see fit. This critic always hopes that people newer to dipping their toes into the indie ocean are willing to open themselves up to this kind of filmmaking, as it really does impress.
The magnificently beautiful Rumyantseva does a perfect job in her role as the Creator, a personage so innocent on the surface yet brings a powerful sense of something far greater than only human that she possesses. Looking for peace and answers to a wide range of elements in her life she’s now questioning, the road to this enlightenment she takes looks barren and yet completely beautiful as we try to acknowledge how she must see things through potentially eternal eyes, a profoundly grander perception and experience than what most would gain. It’s a understated performance buoyed by both body language and the voiceover, and throughout the effort, Rumyantseva maintains a tangible composure emphasizing the character’s inward and outward journey without becoming melodramatic. I say “Bravo!”.
A supporting appearance is made by Dimitris Kapetanios as a young man whose relationship to the Creator could be many things. In total, with its evocative atmosphere, gorgeously shot camerawork, and soul-searching narrative, “Chimera” lives up to its title’s namesake through plumbing the concept of everything being experienced possibly amounting to only a mirage, a fantasy, a illusion, a hallucination while likewise trying to provide hope that through an earnest searching and willingness to move beyond what we’ve always taken as the set way things would remain, we might discover it all wasn’t just a dream, but the beginnings of new actualities.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
