The film opens with a scene taking place in a long, dreamlike corridor with walls covered with disturbing, if not scary portraits. At the bottom of the corridor (straight out of a Lynch movie) a worn animal skull lies atop a small pile of sand. Distorted perspective shots are accompanied by the sound of grim music, as if belonging to the netherworld. After a short while, an out-of-frame figure opens the door at the end of the corridor, enabling us to take a peek into a small, claustrophobic room, in which a weary, drooping character watches over a baby carriage. The room's floor, furniture, and even the carriage's interior are covered in a thick layer of sand, which can be easily recognised as the ancestors' ashes (one can discern body parts). On the dirty, dark walls, amongst scratched writings "Ne me quitte pas" and "Don't leave me!," there is yet another portrait in a heavy, ornamented frame, lit by the dim light of a flickering light bulb. Paintings of the ancestors were hung in family estates in order to remind the descendants about their roots and identity, thus becoming moral compasses, and at the same time a heavy ballast. Such is also the case in Konopka's film: the portraits and ashes of the ancestors dominate the world of the protagonist, and become its tangible borders. It is the ghosts of his predecessors that left the message “don't leave me,” their ashes slow down the characters' movements, infiltrate each corner of the living space. Pre-determined by the time and place of our birth, we land in our buggy, which some never manage to escape. The freely spinning wheels of this life machine may symbolise the cyclicality and repetitiveness of fate, while the buggy reminds us about our origins.
In Underlife, Jarosław Konopka asks whether it is possible to break away from this circle. He encourages a reflection on the preconditions that govern the subconscious and cast long shadows on our life. The subtle and ambiguous narrative does not impose any answers on the audience – on the contrary, the director conceals his questions, which might make an inattentive viewer miss his intentions. Nonetheless, this puppet film with manipulated video elements could also be read on a whole other level: as a magnificently developed, engrossing, and multi-faceted horror, resembling works from the creator of Lost Highway. All elements in the film inspire fear: the claustrophobic interiors, scary characters, the seeping, harsh soundtrack, and even unconventional camera angles.
Underlife, Poland 2010. Screenplay and production: Jarosław Konopka; Music: Łukasz Feiner; Vocals: Martina Macko; Voices: Jakub Moroz; Sound: Jarosław Konopka; Production manager: Ewa Wierzbowska; Art director: Zbigniew Żmudzki; Producer: Munk Studio/Polish Filmmakers Association, Polish Television, Se-ma-for Film Studio. Duration: 8 minutes.
Awards:
- Second Place Winner, Best Directing, Best Visual Animation – The Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival 2011.