Link

‘Link‘ is far from being a conventional cinematographic experiment, situating rather in the aesthetics of a music video that takes over the structure of a vlog-movie, with psychedelic nuances. By proposing to create a strange fictional universe whose essence lies in its very own bizarreness, Leohmd is a director who challenges the viewer’s attention, defying any attempt to find a logic, an explanation for the succession of images that make up the entire film. In fact, the big mistake the spectators can make while watching this project is to activate their attention, in order to find relevant connections or a predetermined formula that justifies the periplus of the protagonist through the labyrinth of his own hallucinations.

This project must be felt, not thought, just as listening to electro music is an organic, not cerebral experience. It’s no coincidence that this experimental short film, built on an electro musical skeleton with trance influences, goes beyond the premise of an indie horror to plunge into an almost strident chromatic matter that takes strange forms, all those into a fluid and blinding world in which the mysterious silhouette of a geisha obsesses the dreams of the protagonist. Our inability to accurately describe the shape of this oneiric space comes precisely from the evanescence of the universe built by the director who seems to aim for an intense and colourful, visceral and unpredictable trip at the limit of terror and nervous hyperexcitation. Thus, the chaotic movements of the subjective camera, the ghostly portraits captured in a succession of close-ups, the explosions of violent colours and the stroboscope effects combine into a contrasting and thrilling cinematic substance, seemingly designed by Gaspar Noé and Park Chan-wook.

The magnetism of the final product is therefore ensured not only by the unpredictable and outwardly incompatible cinematographic formula that defies both the expectations of the spectator and the premise of the project itself, but also by the intelligence with which Leohmd manipulates various shooting strategies, proving a remarkable artistic sense at chromatic and compositional level. ‘Link’ appears to toe the line between nightmare and Asian „gothic fantasy”, being a bizarre and refreshing project that pushes forward the aesthetics of the musical clip, while forcing the barriers between reality and dream, to promote a dazzling, strident and fascinating experimental cinema.