Barbara Bland

The Humans In the beginning I was bored. Even the intro of credits ired me. Long, dark, and tedious. I later came to realize the intro was just the begining of a journey into complex emotions mired in a dark looming structure with tunnel vision, a slither of a view giving the feeling of being walled in and claustrophobic. It irritated me! Yet I continued. 10 minutes in still bored wondering where all this is going, 20 minutes in I decided the director is displaying their disdain and disgust for deteriorated, disintegrated, dilapidated living. (the apartment could have definitely used some reno). With this in mind I appreciated the use of the apartment shots as a tool to further darken the mood. Then I stepped into character study. Around 40 minutes in the hair raised on my head, Holy Sh...t!!! I'm watching my life. At some points in my life I have been or experienced someone like each one of these people. Cheating, drunkeness, sarcastic, sad, lost, stoically resigned. Straddling the fence of hope and depair, holding unfulfilled desires, wanting to help but mostly be helped. Stark circumstances offering no place to run or hide yet still grasping on to hope for a loathed life. I witnessed so called insightful enablers seeking healing without God. Witnessing the depths of dementia, a roller coaster ride in hell. Where is Momo when she's quiet? Here we have the elderly taking care of the elderly struggling with wheelchairs through narrow doors (the struggle is real). Tenement or high rise there will be noise. The energy in this movie is both stale and frenectic. Thanks for the elevator door, a bit of comic relief, graffitti with an explosive message. You get the feeling that all the stories in the building were probably equally as sad, if not sadder. Warning: if you are prone to depression this movie might trigger a dark mood. We have the lone American roach who shows up. It's been said they have survived for over 300 million years tenaciouly holding on to its loathed life. (symbolic) Still I found beauty in their realization that they had each other, regardless of how toxic they were individually, they can look at one another on occasion and ask who is suppose to be the strong on here? They are just a regular family, there's no one here who is wrong or right, bad or good, like marbles rolling around in a square box asking themselves who is suppose to be the strong one here? i'm only human. Oh the Humanity!!! My final words, as an artform I know it was well done, Bravo!!!