Aftermath - Genesis
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This superb DVD release from the ever-reliable US label, Unearthed Films, comprises 3 short films from Spanish auteur, Nacho Cerda. Each one is a wholly unique meditation upon the physical and spiritual aspects of human mortality, ie, death.
The trilogy begins with 'The Awakening', a black and white short shot in 1990, which is undoubtedly a student film. Centred around a single character for whom time has stopped, The Awakening explores what happens to the individual consciousness at the point of death. Though not as stunning as the two subsequent instalments, it is nonetheless a fascinating example of Cerda's work that hints at what is to come...
And so, in 1994, Cerda created the notorious 'Aftermath', a no-holds-barred tour-de-force masterpiece set almost entirely within the tiled walls of a mortuary. From the opening titles onwards - which are brilliantly accompanied by Mozart and the juxtaposed remains of a disembowelled dog - we are thrust into the physical world of death.
Dante was led through Hell by the ghost of the poet Virgil; For this infernal voyage our host is a deviant forensic pathologist and part-time necrophile, played by Pep Tosar. Tosar's morbid mortician seems to run the morgue like a tyrant, and as he conducts a post-mortem examination, we see him treat the corpse with a callous disregard. When the body of a young woman is brought in, he indulges his ungodly sexual urges, and violates the cadaver in a shockingly carnal manner...
Though shot on an extremely low budget, Aftermath looks amazing; the production, FX, acting, editing and tight storyboarding raise this from a simple exploitation shocker into an intelligent arthouse style movie, where the composition of every frame has been carefully planned and executed. (For example, there is at least one shot of a cadaver that seems to be deliberately identical to an image in the American textbook, 'Practical Homicide Investigation'...) Aftermath, like all three of the films available here, transcends the international language barrier by simply having no dialogue. It's a premise that works so well because of the strength of Cerda's imagery and storytelling skills.
The trio conclude with a 1998 film titled, ironically, 'Genesis'. Although based upon the transition of death, it is very different to the gory onslaught of Aftermath. Essentially based around the Greek myth of Pygmalion (a sculptor whose beloved, inanimate creation is brought to life by benevolent gods), it follows a bereaved sculptor (again played by Pep Tosar) who is haunted by the memory of his wife (the gorgeous Trae Houlihan) tragically killed in a car crash. Desperately mourning for his dead lover, he makes a life-sized, life-like clay statue of her. As his nightmares spill into reality, two transformations begin to occur... The statue bleeds as chunks of clay fall away, whilst the sculptor's own body devolves from flesh and blood into an inanimate, ashen material. In his dreams, it is he that died, and his wife that survived, so when the Kafka-esque metamorphoses reach a conclusion, she is returned to life, whilst he pays the ultimate price for bringing her back from the realms of death...
From the spiritual aspects of 'The Awakening' to the physical, visceral horrors of 'Aftermath', and finally the metaphysical surrealism of 'Genesis', Cerda's trilogy makes him one of Europe's hottest artist/film-makers and certainly a talent to look out for. Further praise has to go to Unearthed Films for the wealth of extras, including interviews with Cerda - one of which is conducted by legendary German director, Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1/2, Der Todesking, Schramm - a behind-the-scenes feature, a painstakingly constructed film and storyboard comparison, and loads more...
Brilliant...!
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The trilogy begins with 'The Awakening', a black and white short shot in 1990, which is undoubtedly a student film. Centred around a single character for whom time has stopped, The Awakening explores what happens to the individual consciousness at the point of death. Though not as stunning as the two subsequent instalments, it is nonetheless a fascinating example of Cerda's work that hints at what is to come...
And so, in 1994, Cerda created the notorious 'Aftermath', a no-holds-barred tour-de-force masterpiece set almost entirely within the tiled walls of a mortuary. From the opening titles onwards - which are brilliantly accompanied by Mozart and the juxtaposed remains of a disembowelled dog - we are thrust into the physical world of death.
Dante was led through Hell by the ghost of the poet Virgil; For this infernal voyage our host is a deviant forensic pathologist and part-time necrophile, played by Pep Tosar. Tosar's morbid mortician seems to run the morgue like a tyrant, and as he conducts a post-mortem examination, we see him treat the corpse with a callous disregard. When the body of a young woman is brought in, he indulges his ungodly sexual urges, and violates the cadaver in a shockingly carnal manner...
Though shot on an extremely low budget, Aftermath looks amazing; the production, FX, acting, editing and tight storyboarding raise this from a simple exploitation shocker into an intelligent arthouse style movie, where the composition of every frame has been carefully planned and executed. (For example, there is at least one shot of a cadaver that seems to be deliberately identical to an image in the American textbook, 'Practical Homicide Investigation'...) Aftermath, like all three of the films available here, transcends the international language barrier by simply having no dialogue. It's a premise that works so well because of the strength of Cerda's imagery and storytelling skills.
The trio conclude with a 1998 film titled, ironically, 'Genesis'. Although based upon the transition of death, it is very different to the gory onslaught of Aftermath. Essentially based around the Greek myth of Pygmalion (a sculptor whose beloved, inanimate creation is brought to life by benevolent gods), it follows a bereaved sculptor (again played by Pep Tosar) who is haunted by the memory of his wife (the gorgeous Trae Houlihan) tragically killed in a car crash. Desperately mourning for his dead lover, he makes a life-sized, life-like clay statue of her. As his nightmares spill into reality, two transformations begin to occur... The statue bleeds as chunks of clay fall away, whilst the sculptor's own body devolves from flesh and blood into an inanimate, ashen material. In his dreams, it is he that died, and his wife that survived, so when the Kafka-esque metamorphoses reach a conclusion, she is returned to life, whilst he pays the ultimate price for bringing her back from the realms of death...
From the spiritual aspects of 'The Awakening' to the physical, visceral horrors of 'Aftermath', and finally the metaphysical surrealism of 'Genesis', Cerda's trilogy makes him one of Europe's hottest artist/film-makers and certainly a talent to look out for. Further praise has to go to Unearthed Films for the wealth of extras, including interviews with Cerda - one of which is conducted by legendary German director, Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1/2, Der Todesking, Schramm - a behind-the-scenes feature, a painstakingly constructed film and storyboard comparison, and loads more...
Brilliant...!
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