Natalia Cricri’s short film, An Eight Letter word Starting with A is, from the opening moment, a tantalizing mystery. The premise is straightforward enough: two men sit in a strange waiting room that is vaguely reminiscent of a doctor’s office. Throughout the film, they sit and talk. One works on a crossword puzzle, while the other twitches nervously since this is his first time. First time for what, you may ask? That’s the mystery.
If this sounds like an awfully dull premise, you’re mistaken. We are in fact hooked right from the opening black screen. We hear a stream of liquid and then see a pair of female legs in fishnet stockings watering a plant in a highly suggestive way. If you’ve seen the opening scene from the pilot of Billions, you’ll know what is being suggested here. The phallic watering can only adds to the mystery. There are other unusual elements to the setting. It’s dimly and warmly lit in delicate pinks, reds and blues. There’s a strange glass object on a table, again, strangely suggestive.
We’re also pulled in by the conversation. One man, leaning back confidently, works away at a newspaper crossword puzzle and occasionally asks the other man for help with a clue. The other man, hunched over and petrified, does his best to help out and make small talk. But he’s clearly so nervous that he’s having a hard time concentrating. While watching, I was desperate to know: What are they doing here? What is this place? Why does the man claim he ‘has to’ go through with this? Why are the answers to the form the nurse hands them so difficult to answer?
The men never name the ‘procedure’ they’re in the office for. But we get some hints: the crossword enthusiast has bruises on his ankles that look like they came from some sort of medieval prison. Whatever they’re here for, the nurse is quite insistent about asking whether those in the waiting room have had anything to eat of drink recently. Even the very bizarre headline of a newspaper one man reads could be a hint: “Conservative Power over our Human Vessels.” Is this a real newspaper that they just happened to use when shooting? Or was it placed there on purpose? Is the advertisement for Pepsodent relevant? Who knows.
The film, nearly twelve minutes long, appears to have been shot in one long take. The camera hovers, bobs and weaves around the men and the room, closing in when the nurse enters to ask questions and pulling out when the men are talking. The audience’s eye is never bored. The direction here is quite brilliant. Apart from the very strong body language of the two initial patients, the nurse, who stands just a little too close to her clients when asking about payment, is perfectly calculated to arouse our suspicions, hopes and fears.
Natalia Cricri, who wrote, directed and produced the film has done an amazing job here. Although she does not appear in this film, she is best known as an actress who has appeared in several shorts and recent films. This in is fact her directorial debut and her writing debut. In both areas, Cricri shines. This is a well-written and beautifully directed film with a very hooky premise – and a hard-hitting punchline (if you get it).
The best short films tend to be based on mysteries like this one, and to have some sort of punchline (the kind of punchline that wouldn’t work well in a longer film). Cricri has clearly mastered the art of the short in this extraordinary film. It is only near the end that we finally clue in to what should have been obvious from the title: the whole film is a crossword puzzle clue. I have to admit that I watched with pen in hand, going through every longish word beginning with ‘A’ I could think of. Although there’s certainly enough information here to solve the puzzle, It is entirely possible that one could watch this film and never get the answer to the clue. And that is a great achievement for Cricri. Are you up for the challenge?
by: Darida Rose
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.