Wake
2022 · 7m
Directed by Martin Klapperbein
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
A man endures the aftermath of losing his wife and soon-to-be daughter, shot on 35mm with ambient music by Alaskan Tapes.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A grief film shot on 35mm with ambient soundscaping—the setup screams 'Festival Favorite,' which is precisely why it doesn't interest me; there's nothing here that makes me uncomfortable or questions the form itself.
Klapperbein's decision to shoot this intimate devastation on 35mm is formally deliberate—anchoring private loss in the materiality of celluloid creates a tension between permanence and impermanence that situates the work within a lineage of analogue cinema grappling with time and memory.
The pairing of 35mm's inherent grain with Alaskan Tapes' ambient wash feels like the entire film hinges on that one textural choice—letting the physicality of the medium do the emotional heavy lifting rather than narrative crescendo.