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Directed by Diago Lozano
Starring Nathalie J. Cerny and Tom Gelech
Short Film Review by Rachel Pullen
Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father during an argument, comedian Phil Hartman was shot by his wife due to ongoing drug use in their marriage, and of course, Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside their home, sparking one of the most famous trials to date, of NFL legend O.J Simpson.
What do all these tragic murders have in common? They are all crimes of passion.
What is a crime of passion, well it is simply what it sounds like, where the murder or the attempt of, has taken place, often with a loved one or a family member due to a dispute or heartbreak, and Diago Lozano’s Mortem faces that subject head on.
This short piece by Lozano takes us into the world of a woman (Nathalie J. Cerny) who wakes up to see a man (Tom Gelech) standing over her, he looks lustful and dominant, kind of like when a man is looking at you in a nightclub or bar and you can’t decided if he wants to murder you in an alley or make sweet love to you down by the fire, either way he certainly has a strong presence over our leading lady.
She stands to embrace him, realising he is in fact her husband, but as she approaches him she is
horrified to see that he has in fact killed her in what can only be assumed as a crime of passion.
Yet despite this bleak story line Mortem feels like a music video that has made love with the set
designer from The Neon Demon and then taken a bath afterwards in glitter.
It’s bold, it’s attractive, and as I said before it’s smothered in glitter, as well as all this it is accompanied by foreboding yet lively music. Lozano’s choice of soundtrack in Mortem plays one of the most important parts, like John Carpenter before him, Lozano has realised that you don’t need all the gore and guts of other thrillers and horrors, what you really need it a chilling soundtrack to create the atmosphere of dread and fear within your audience.
Spanning only over 4 minutes, Mortem is one of the most aesthetically appealing short pieces of
cinema I have personally seen in many years, he has created an atmosphere straight out of your
most beautiful nightmare; warm and inviting yet chilling to the bone, maybe just don’t watch it after
a fight with your other half!
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