The courage to experiment, beginning with familiar themes or ideas, has become one of the most vital forces sustaining the art of cinema. Thus, beyond the authenticity, narrative consistency or psychological impact of a concept, the true creators are those who are not afraid to be non-conformists, even at the cost of being perceived as “freaks” with a passion for puzzles. Indeed, ‘Moisture‘ is an enigmatic short film that plays with the viewer’s mind and seeks to provoke contradictory questions, but it is precisely these subtle qualities that make it a memorable experience. With the same certainty, we can say that Duda Gorter is a director with a fascinating style, an atypical creator with a speculative intelligence, whose vision is inspired on the one hand by the experimental cinema patented by a master like David Lynch and on the other by surrealist art concerned in particular with the haunting motifs of feminism. In the same way, her fictional universe recycles elements of the theatre of the absurd to illustrate a social critique that contrasts patriarchal conventions and dogmas with the identity crises of the contemporary human.
In between her job as an E.N.T. and a life of almost terrifying monotony, a woman becomes increasingly trapped in an intimate prison-like universe. In a city in which everything seems to be falling apart to the rhythm of quasi-demonic religious chanting, the protagonist appears doomed to inexplicable failure amid a society that is increasingly deaf and indifferent to the needs of the soul.
This subtle feminist manifesto unfolds within a dense, insidious atmosphere, infused with dark, almost incantatory vibrations. Orchestrated like a monstrous reverie, it leads the protagonist toward an inevitable confrontation, where she must find her way out. The images follow each other in an agonizingly slow tempo, often based on an automatism that defies the coherence of a conventional narrative but which manages through its dark poeticism to evoke a striking metaphor of emotional dissolution in the context of contemporary society. Duda Gorter masterfully navigates this descent into the darkness of the soul, crafting a dense film that lingers in the viewer’s mind while sending shivers down the spine. Thus, beyond its originality and evocative force, ‘Moisture’ is a short film that has convinced us of the talent of a director we look forward to admiring in future projects.
