A Folded Ocean
2023 · 13m · USA
Directed by Ben Brewer
Genres: fantasy, horror, romance
Tones: absurdist, dark, melancholic
A couple deeply in love wakes one morning to discover their arms have begun to literally fuse together. As the condition worsens throughout the day, this grotesque body-horror conceit becomes a visceral metaphor for the loss of individual identity within a romantic relationship, inspired by Plato's myth (via Roland Barthes' A Lover's Discourse) of humans originally joined as one.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Couple's arms literally fuse — VFX by the director himself on a six-person crew in two days, and the director is in the comments saying "Together is a ripoff of my film." Petty AND ambitious, my favorite combo.
Brewer's literalization of Plato-via-Barthes through body horror executed by a six-person crew over two days has real conceptual rigor, and the lineage to Cronenberg-via-romance is genuine. The Vimeo comments indicate it predates Together, which is its own credential.
175K views, mature-tagged, and the director's offhand Vimeo reply ("Together is a ripoff of my film") confirms Brewer himself executed the flesh-fusion VFX on a six-person, two-day shoot — that's the body-horror-as-Barthes thesis with one artist's fingerprints all over it. This is a craft miracle in the literal sense.
Reviews
The visual depiction is deeply affecting and remarkably convincing — the bodies melting into each other looks amazingly good.
Despite the showstopping visuals, the love story between the two leads — mostly unspoken — resonates deeply, especially in a complete work no longer than a few TikToks.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2023
- Festival Regard 2023
- IndieLisboa 2023
- SPASM Festival 2023