SNAPSHOT
A lonely girl is living in the sky, far from the world on the ground that frightens her. One day, an unexpected visit will turn her routine upside down and make her fall from her cloud. (courtesy Filmaffinity)
There are a lot of truly remarkable short films out there that tell such an expansive story in a limited period of time that they put many feature films to shame, but Castaway is one the most evocatively affecting examples of the genre I’ve ever seen.
Written by Marie Gauthier and directed by Rachel Bosc-Bierne, Vincent Carrette, Simon Fabbri, Marie Gauthier, Margo Lopez and Léopoldine Perdrix, Castaway brings a whimsical goth sweetness, if that’s a thing, to the idea of facing your fears and finding out maybe they weren’t so scary after all.
Infused with the ethereally moving music of Nicolas Montaigne, which adds a luminously beautiful air to proceedings, embodying both the melancholy and hopefulness of a young woman who lives atop the clouds, baking cookies and knitting a giant long red scarf.
At first glance, it looks idyllic but for all the bucolic bliss that seems to fill the young woman’s world, there is an underlying anxiety and fear that brutally circumscribes her world that is brought into sharp relief when she fears the sounds of the villagers who live far below on the ground.
To its credit, Castaway doesn’t pretend that that kind of anxiety can be done away with one catalytic moment – the arrival of a cat/red panda creature gives her companionship but helps her see there is life beyond her cabin, revealed in ways lighthearted and horror-lite – but it does say that you can find your way out from it given enough time and patience and understanding.
And who knows what will happen then?
Castaway is a dreamily lovely short film with real emotional bite, weighty characterisation and a narrative that actually matters, that will seize your heart and gently remind that, powerful though fear might be, being set free from it is even more so.