Special delivery – a five minute journey into a world devoid of science and logic, writer/director Roman Bubnov pits a mysterious, gift-giving force against a woman in an intriguing little Russian short film – Who’s There (2018).
A twenty-first century Hitchcockian blonde (Darya Yanvarina) – ear buds in, phone attached to hip; a beautiful mystery, so alluringly aloof. . . a woman placed in a dire situation, she receives a text from source unknown, asking if she got the said sender’s present.
No sooner does the doorbell ring – a very special delivery. . . wrapped beneath a cloth sits a painting, something that we will soon discover gives new meaning to the terms depth and three dimensional. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is no different – a hooded yellow figure, face shrouded in shadowy black (the background the darkest depths of fear), clutches an oversized egg. . . eerie and sinister do not begin to describe the artwork.
What came first – the chicken or the egg. . . it may now finally be clear – the supernatural force wielding the ancient shell of the riddle. The baffling texts continue while strange sounds start to emanate from the painting. Soon, the egg begins to hatch – but what lies beneath?
An excellent example of quality sound design, solid direction, a stellar score (by Matt Harris), and engaging acting. . . it is much like a classic piece of silent cinema – the growth of the constantly texting generation used against itself to build a palpably anonymous spectre – ancient art meeting the power of nouveau technology. . . a ghostly presence getting hip with the ways things are trending without losing that old school, tangible scare. Looking back, it is hard to believe that not a word has been spoken (Yanvarina’s vivid visage the only form of communication we get, aside from the text messages), but that is the magic of the spooky mood that is built into this cleverly constructed vignette.
Could the cracking of the shell be symbolic of the woman’s psyche? Bringing to mind classic gothic short stories like “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, or “The Tell-Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the confined, modernist abode, with its sole individual (her background completely unknown), pulls us in – a frightful enigma wrapped in a pearly casing. So, discover Who’s There by grasping hold of this excellent short film – and, to refute popular belief, it is not always a hard egg to crack.
This film is in Russian with English subtitles (a quick Youtube search of “Who’s There 2018″ will bring it up)