Holy God Holy Mighty Holy Immortal Have Mercy Upon Us
2013 · 15m · USA
Directed by Robert Barnett
Genres: experimental, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, mythic
A woman navigates the void left by her recently deceased father, a supernatural thriller told through razor-sharp editing and gorgeous images that articulate grief as trance-state and pagan devotion. A masterful short that finds new ways to express the mysterious facts of the world.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
The title is fourteen words long and a liturgy. Craig Keller called it 'extraordinary and masterful.' Form and grief collapse into each other. This is what short films are for.
Robert Barnett's supernatural-thriller-as-mourning-piece with razor-sharp editing and gorgeous images is the kind of tonal craft that distinguishes a real filmmaker — sounds like Pawel Pawlikowski compression.
The film's editing rhythms and image choices perform the psychological state of grief rather than narrating it — designed for rewatching is exactly the right framing for what the page calls 'extraordinary and masterful.' Trust the pedigree.