Elefante
2012 · 9m · Spain
Directed by Pablo Larcuen
Genres: dark comedy, fantasy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, melancholic
Manuel, a man who despises his job, his wife, and his only friend, is diagnosed with a mysterious condition that is slowly transforming him into an elephant — a darkly absurdist parable about isolation and rejection.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Sitges and Clermont-Ferrand together constitute a strong festival pedigree for European genre-inflected short form, and Larcuen's film earns both through formal restraint — the absurdist premise is held in check by the film's clinical, straight-faced execution.
Best Short Film at Sitges 2012, Clermont-Ferrand selection. A man literally turning into an elephant played with deadpan literalism, Kafka by way of Spain. The pedigree and the premise both line up. This is the one I actually want to see in this batch.
Sitges Best Short Film, Clermont-Ferrand selection — Pablo Larcuen plays the slow elephant-metamorphosis with deadpan literalism, so the absurdity functions as emotional realism. Nine minutes of disciplined Kafka-via-Lanthimos.
Reviews
Absurd, because after all, a man is turning into an elephant! But really it's just that Manuel's sense of isolation and rejection is being taken to its extreme.
Festivals
- Sitges Fantastic Film Festival 2012, Best Short Film
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2012