Torn
In a sense, Heaven is above our world and Hell is below it. We all know this, but few know that there are places where the boundaries of our three worlds lie tangent to each other. One such place is Trinity Forest.
Do not go there. Do not be tempted by the soft beat of angel wings, and do not ignore the hacking coughs of the damned. You will not notice the charred hands holding you until they have your legs firmly in their grasp. You will become keenly aware of an undernote of sulfur beneath the scent of honey-and-roses that guided you so far.
Please do not scream. I know you will. The angels will pity you and descend to help, even though they are not meant to. They cannot help it, so forgive them. With tearful faces, reflections of your own panic, they will pull and heave and inevitably you will be torn along your middle.
Ashamed of what they have done, they will abandon you. You will not be able to follow, but neither will your torso fall from where it has been dragged. When the demons see you are incomplete, they will grow dissatisfied with withdraw into the darkened earth, leaving your legs entombed.
It won’t be long before you realise you cannot move.
The Magician Seeing The Fool
The air stings but it doesn’t bother them:
they gaze into the hazy gray unending skies; stir the icy slosh of the lake
with their left leg; rub shapes into the fresh snow at their sides. They wear a
jet-black jacket, dusted white. Their legs are exposed, and their face
uncovered except for their mass of dark hair. The Fool doesn’t discriminate
between experiences: numb legs, frostbite, shivers that break bones – these are
all matters of curiosity.
They have no desire for self-preservation,
only the desire to see interesting things. I’m approaching them now, and once
I’m beside them their trance breaks, and they stare up at me. I offer to show
them a magic trick in exchange for their jacket. They nod slowly, their muscles
stiff from the cold. They make an effort to lift their arms up, and when they
do, I slide the jacket off them.
I walk across the lake. At the other side,
I shake the snow off the jacket. Then I lay it down opposite The Fool, and
return to stand beside them
“Watch,” I tell them.
They fix their sights on the jacket – it is
only a blurry black shape at this distance. They shiver more, but they obey.
Perhaps they’d never grow impatient, only distracted when something more
interesting comes along.
The blurry shape moves. It comes
towards us, leaving a thick wet trail. It swims through the lake like a shadow,
then edges itself out of the water. A smile forms on The Fools face when they see
the umbral slug approach them. They pet it twice, and it crawls into their lap,
tired already from this deathly cold. "Thank you," the blue-lipped fool says.
February 2nd, 2021
Some call this prophetic movie cursed, while others believe it the modern world’s first true miracle. The Day You Die is for sure
the most controversial and inexplicable film ever.
But is it
good?
That’s the
one thing I believe all other reviews are missing. Beyond all the supernatural
mystique and controversy, is it a good piece of cinema? I think so. Here’s why.
The film
opens with a dark, quiet picture. The quiet is shattered by an alarm shrieking September
Eighteen Twenty Thirty Four! The shot lingers on me slumped over my head,
back turned to the camera.
Reader, this
film speaks to the audience directly. It is not just random shots of the day of
your death. The director could have opened at any point (there have been cases
where the film shows only the very moment of death) but in my case, by opening
this way, I’m told it sees what I am trying to do. It says, “If you want to
know the date, here you go. An olive branch to you.”
Of course,
a good film teases as much as it gives. I want to see my face, my reaction to
the date seared into my brain from the moment this very scene dances across my
retinas, yet it does not show this. I do not know what expression I have when I
wake up. It leaves such things to my imagination, and I love it for that. This
movie is not just about me but for me.
There is
not much plot to life, but where it can be found, The Day You Die does
find it. It focuses on the connections I’ve made with others. It shows all the
envelopes containing letters to my loved ones, allowing me to read each name,
many of which I do not recognize. The
film does a brilliant turnaround in mood when I text many of the same people to
come over for a party. Most of them show up. The music is loud, the laughs
explosive, and the clothing colorful. My husband (who is currently my
boyfriend) and girlfriend (who I have not met yet) make speeches about me,
roasting me dearly. I laughed in eerie synchrony to my on-screen self.
The final
scene of the movie is me curled up in my husband’s arms, our lips stained with
wine, and our eyes stained with tears. We talk about everything but the end. It
never shows me how I die, and it doesn’t have to.
The Day You
Die is certainly the most moving cinema I’ve seen in a long time, technically
impressive given its limitations, and is clearly made out of a love for
humanity. Get your hands on this piece of art by all means.
10/10.
