The Sweet Hand of the White Rose
Directed by: Davide Melini
Spain, 2010
Horror/Drama, 16min
Sometimes short form storytelling is extremely potent. I was reminded of
this when I was searching for a completely different on my mac, and came across
the link to indie filmmaker, Davide Melini’s charming The Sweet Hand of the
White Rose. See, already now you are curious to what this could be, as the name
echoes Giallo and EuroGoth heritage. You won’t be disappointed, and amusingly
enough, Melini’s short spook flick also comes with an crucial message!
Whilst paying an unsolicited visit to unfortunate young Rose’s [Natasha Machuca] grave, Mark [Carlos Bahos] is startled
by sudden lightning, bloody tracks and a figure in white which beckons him
towards a dark corner of the cemetery where a harrowing secret is soon to be
revealed.
Despite only being just under seventeen minutes, and very sparse
on dialogue, Melini manages to create a good atmosphere, momentary tension, a few
effective jump scares and last moment twist. Despite much in The Sweet Hand of the White Rose being somewhat predictable - come on, we watch genre movies every day and we know how stuff clicks - I would be interested to see where
Melini would go with a full feature script as he, already in his short works,
manages to - even if briefly – tap into what I see as keystones of effective
horror storytelling; remorse, guilt, and empathy. It’s kind of restrained in
short form, but given more time for exposition, tricks and traits, then the sky
is the limit, and Melini is already using genre to spread an important message!
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Melilni’s name pop up again
in a near future (fingers crossed), he’s already shot several attention-grabbing
short films, worked as an assistant director on Dario Argento’s Mother of
Tears: The Third Mother, and has seen his movies, both The Sweet Hand of the
White Rose and its predecessor Puzzle, play to great reception at the 32’nd
Fanta Festival in Italy, and several other niched festivals since it’s release.
I certainly hope he get’s a shot at a full feature, because his movies are
certainly short cinema at their finest.
You can easily check out The Sweet Hand of the White Rose on
Davide Melini’s official youtube page, HERE, and it will take you less time to watch then deciding what the next film of the evening will be.
My apologies go out out Davide for taking forever to review
this movie. Just as in his film, life sometimes get’s on the way of what you
intended, but today it had the power of stopping me in my tracks and hooked me
completely once again.
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