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★★★
Starring: #MahsaAkbari and #NimaHaghighi
Short Film Review by: Alexandra James
Mannequin is a short film that has a rather curious and unusual storyline. The film begins with a wife watching late night TV and ordering something from one of the channels which appears to be a mannequin in a bow tie for her husband’s birthday. A very strange gift for a husband, however, she seems convinced that this will make the perfect present. The story then moves on to the couple preparing for her husband’s birthday party, as they decorate their home and await guests, the doorbell rings and it’s the mannequin that has arrived right on time, she is convinced that it looks exactly like her husband. However, the husband seems quite confused and cannot see the likeness himself but goes along with his wife’s opinion. The film after this event takes a strange turn and this is when things become very confusing for our male protagonist as well as unclear for the viewer.
As the story begins to develop, the wife Leila is no where to be seen, instead, her husband attends his own party without knowing a single person who has arrived. As he becomes heavily intoxicated with drink and drugs, everyone around him seems to be a stranger and yet are aware who he is. The scenes became hard to follow at this stage and although it added that element of curiosity and fed into the ambiguity of some of the scenes, it also made it tricky to link the story together. There wasn’t a natural flow, and the central theme was this mannequin which did not appear again until the very end of the film. The audience were left in the dark, so it was hard to understand the direction the narrative was taking.
However, the party scenes were great as it became interesting to see the transformation of the everyday home to a drug and alcohol fuelled event. The juxtaposition between the two added to the hecticness as well as feed into the confusion of the character as well as the viewer. Unfortunately, the storyline became lost amongst the craziness and so it became difficult to engage with the characters. Ambiguity can be an intriguing quality, but there also needs to be a central theme to the narrative that ties everything together and remains a constant throughout.
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