Julian's Day: A review of an amazing video.

I stumbled across this video by Aram Vidal and I'll tell you why I love it.

The video opens in a languid, muggy, tropical rain, akin to the thin layer of soup we all thrive in. The   images are clearly recognizable but the edges blur into the next image, as if each element in the scenery are all linked to each other, all things stewing in this fertile atmospheric plasma.  The colours are bold, with a corporeal bluish green cast punctuated by the lively saturated reds and yellows of the people. The shallow depth of field gives the main subjects a sense of intimacy and reality while the background maintains a dreamy far-off look to it. The hand-held camera and the amateurishly (on purpose, I'm sure) recorded audio, in tandem with scenes that go out of focus when we think they should be in focus, lends an earnest authenticity to the whole scene.

The slow-to-increasingly fast beat of the raindrops on a tin-something speaks of a rising urgency to arrive at something, in contrast to the slow pace of everything else. A lazy acoustic rendition "Cry me a River"  is very appropriate, very intimate and very personal. The efforts to light the lighter, mostly failing but sometimes succeeding, speaks of life itself.

In the end, Julian reclines on the front seat of his car, his friends in the back. Julian seems perplexed but is not willing to seek out an answer. His expression is a mixture of defeat and acceptance.

Life is both wonderful and meaningless. It is ultimately futile to question why, how, and when. Human conceit aims to find answers with ever more powerful telescopes, microscopes and particle accelerators. Philosophers try to philosophize and religions, as usual, aim to deceive. Julian uses tarot cards.

Why not?

Towards the end of the video "My Funny Valentine" plays and ends with "... each day is Valentine."

In the end, each and every day is still a Valentine.

Documental. Un día cotidiano en la vida de Julián, un joven en la Ciudad de México.
Filmado inicialmente para el proyecto "Life in a day"- 10/10/10.
Review: http://elementalview.blogspot.ca/2012/12/julians-day.html