BACKSTAGE | Omeleto
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BACKSTAGE | Omeleto
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A man rehearses.
Lukas is a young actor who has landed a lead role in a theater production. It's helmed by a renowned director named Cosima, who is both demanding and risk-taking. Yet Lukas listens to her blunt, sometimes harsh critiques and demands, seeking to grow and be challenged creatively and professionally.
Cosima has the power to make Lukas's career, and her connections can push him to the next level. He is also attracted to her, and they engage in a kind of dance of power and attraction during the tense rehearsal process. But when lines are crossed, Lukas discovers that Cosima also has the power to tear him apart and destroy his career.
Directed by Emile V. Schlesser and written by Jonas Brand and Emile V. Schlesser, this darkly seductive short drama is an emotionally complicated pas de deux of power, desire and domination, set in the hothouse milieu of a play during rehearsals. Filmed with a moody, restless visual sense and taking advantage of the heightened emotions of a theatrical rehearsal period, it balances coolly analytical intelligence and unabashedly messy sensuality in its storytelling, making for a darkly enthralling watch.
The narrative is on the longer side for a short, but it uses its runtime well, creating compelling depth and complexity of character by charting the small, often off-hand moments and interactions. Actor Jonathan Joel Albrecht plays Lukas, a young actor eager for professional acclaim and opportunities. But he's a fairly quiet, self-contained character, especially in comparison to the confident, even brash dynamo that is Cosima. Played by actor Sascha Ley, she is older and more established than Lukas, relishing in her position of authority. She takes great pleasure in provoking not just the audience, but her actors. With Lukas, she takes a particular interest in his growth as an actor. But that interest soon reveals itself as more than just professional, and soon lines are blurred and crossed, not just between actor and director, but between rehearsal and real life.
The emotional terrain here could easily be inflammatory and provocative in a "ripped from the headlines" way, but the storytelling is too intelligent, subtle and disciplined to let that happen. It's attentive to the unspoken and the off-hand moment, allowing small details to speak volumes. In doing so, it allows a certain ambiguity to develop, unmasking each character as the cat-and-mouse mind game between Cosima and Lukas develops. The actors are brave, vulnerable and not afraid to be raw and unvarnished; they sit within a certain ambiguity, making their eventual confrontation explosive and darkly satisfying. It also makes BACKSTAGE an unusually nuanced, complex and deeply developed observation on how authority can very quickly turn into abuse and how rapport can shapeshift into something murky, confusing and even sinister. Yet in its forensic development of character, the narrative is also deeply human, making it linger uneasily well after viewing.
BACKSTAGE. Courtesy of Emile V. Schlesser at https://instagram.com/backstage.shortfilm.
Lukas is a young actor who has landed a lead role in a theater production. It's helmed by a renowned director named Cosima, who is both demanding and risk-taking. Yet Lukas listens to her blunt, sometimes harsh critiques and demands, seeking to grow and be challenged creatively and professionally.
Cosima has the power to make Lukas's career, and her connections can push him to the next level. He is also attracted to her, and they engage in a kind of dance of power and attraction during the tense rehearsal process. But when lines are crossed, Lukas discovers that Cosima also has the power to tear him apart and destroy his career.
Directed by Emile V. Schlesser and written by Jonas Brand and Emile V. Schlesser, this darkly seductive short drama is an emotionally complicated pas de deux of power, desire and domination, set in the hothouse milieu of a play during rehearsals. Filmed with a moody, restless visual sense and taking advantage of the heightened emotions of a theatrical rehearsal period, it balances coolly analytical intelligence and unabashedly messy sensuality in its storytelling, making for a darkly enthralling watch.
The narrative is on the longer side for a short, but it uses its runtime well, creating compelling depth and complexity of character by charting the small, often off-hand moments and interactions. Actor Jonathan Joel Albrecht plays Lukas, a young actor eager for professional acclaim and opportunities. But he's a fairly quiet, self-contained character, especially in comparison to the confident, even brash dynamo that is Cosima. Played by actor Sascha Ley, she is older and more established than Lukas, relishing in her position of authority. She takes great pleasure in provoking not just the audience, but her actors. With Lukas, she takes a particular interest in his growth as an actor. But that interest soon reveals itself as more than just professional, and soon lines are blurred and crossed, not just between actor and director, but between rehearsal and real life.
The emotional terrain here could easily be inflammatory and provocative in a "ripped from the headlines" way, but the storytelling is too intelligent, subtle and disciplined to let that happen. It's attentive to the unspoken and the off-hand moment, allowing small details to speak volumes. In doing so, it allows a certain ambiguity to develop, unmasking each character as the cat-and-mouse mind game between Cosima and Lukas develops. The actors are brave, vulnerable and not afraid to be raw and unvarnished; they sit within a certain ambiguity, making their eventual confrontation explosive and darkly satisfying. It also makes BACKSTAGE an unusually nuanced, complex and deeply developed observation on how authority can very quickly turn into abuse and how rapport can shapeshift into something murky, confusing and even sinister. Yet in its forensic development of character, the narrative is also deeply human, making it linger uneasily well after viewing.
BACKSTAGE. Courtesy of Emile V. Schlesser at https://instagram.com/backstage.shortfilm.
