Name: Nightfall
Genre: Short
Duration: 11 min
Rating: 6.2
Cast: Jann Clavadetscher, Atoosa Pour Hosseini

This film opens and closes on a woman's face. One, an aging portrait of an aging woman; the second, an actual woman close to tears. The irony here, although not a blatant one, is that the body of the film concentrates on a young man who is going through a trauma. Objectively, the decision is unrested as to whether this 'trauma' is independent of both these women.

Nightfall introduces a darkness only lit by street-lamps, casting shadows across empty roads and walkways from which a man walks. The trees tower above him and their foliage is still, motionless, observant.

The man's home is still and empty, much like the pathways and roads. One is then confronted with the basic tasks of this man's night, such as making himself a meal. While the food seems exotic and vibrant, it is presented as a bland and monotonous dish, as it's natural color is denied through the sepia tone.

One could add that the choice of shooting through a sepia tone obviously leaves the spectator with a complete lack of color and of a definite black and white. Therefore one could suggest that these factors incidentally reveal the bleak, 'grey side of life'. The events of this man's life, and especially his meal are far from a colorful feast. He robotic adds the monotone ingredients in a nonchalant manner, and stands over the boiling pots like a scientist. There is no love in this meal.

Furthermore the moment of eating this meal is reduced to mere consumption through a complete destruction of ceremony and romanticism. This is achieved through destroying the scene by a heavy film grain. One could also add that there is a close association with the character and the language of the film. This takes on a pathetic fallacy on a pure cinematic level; note that the film grain completely destroys the dining scene because the man is completely unhappy. He is not content, therefore the film is not content. The film could therefore be seen as part of this man's 'point of view'. Thus making the film a highly subjective vision, but due to the non-conclusive narrative this film remains very 'objective'.

Nightfall could be seen as both formalistic and non-formalistic, and half of the shots are framed by definite, bold and symmetrical lines (both horizontal and vertical) while the other half (framed still within this symmetry) is of shadow and non symmetrical shapes. The majority of the film is lit using diffused natural light (at night), making objects and definite lines hard to see. One could agree that this adds to the overall state of anxiety, loss and hopelessness, because visually there is a sense of being 'lost'.

The sound is completely Diegetic and sets the tone of realism, anchoring to viewer to this one house. The camera does not give room for the viewer to breathe or look away as he/she is forced into dialog with extreme close-ups of boiling water, pasta and the man's uncertain face. Also the portrait of the unknown woman is presented frequently in close-up. In these close-ups, the screen is crawling with a heavy film grain and blemishes and with this the face looks like it is moving or motioning to the viewer.

When the morning finally arrives there is no sense of relief. A visitor arrives at the door. It would appear that this woman shares the same problem and that there is a common understanding. The film ends, nobody will never know what has happened or what will happen to this man in his life. But one at least has experienced a single night of his life with him. This is a very personal film.

To conclude, Nightfall is a marriage of the objective and the subjective, leading towards a humble sense of truth. A truth which this film and all products of lens-based media strive towards.

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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A monochrome minimal atmospheric short peeks at the one-night hours of a young man who lives alone in a very big house. He ponders about the mysterious woman in his thoughts, later on in the next day he'll realize that she is behind the door in his house.

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