User Reviews

MILD SPOILERS

Given that since Memento, the trend of filming backwards has grown exponentially, I wasn't much surprised to find "yet another film in reverse" when I started watching this; but I was wondering exactly what was going on and why we were being told this story like this. Eventually you find out, of course, and what makes it more interesting is that the answer is not as straight away as in other examples of this budding sub-genre (which is generally: The guy's reasons to do what he did were completely wrong!!). Later you realize that the big hint was in the palindrome of the title, in the opening credits...

I applaud this short film for being a well shot, well edited mood piece with a very high concept and perfectly stylized narrative that properly evokes its theme of life and death and memory. Classical lighting, great separation of the actors, and solid application of colors. It all looks like a professional production. Very impressive for such a young filmmaker/writer.

**Spoilers**

Yet I am so very disappointed that the writer and director did not credit Damon Knight, the science fiction writer/editor of the 1950s/60s. He wrote an original short story entitled "Backward, O Time." In it, a man dies tragically in a car accident, only to be "born" out of the wreckage. He ruminates on the eventuality of every man's life. All the actions of the characters are performed backwards, as when he shaves, hair grows back, etc... He and his wife have one son, who "grows" into a baby, only to be taken away from him by nurses and inserted back into his wife's womb. In time, his wife is also "taken away" from him. The man eventually grows into a baby and is taken away from his parents and, you guessed it, inserted back into his mother's womb, where, in an epiphany, he wonders what his life was all about.

**End Spoilers**

The similarities can only stretch so far to the point where all assumption snaps off. Damon Knight was a wonderful writer of speculative fiction, and he died without the wider fame of Issac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. I absolutely admired this short film; but knowing what I know, it is very difficult to appreciate it any further.

It's easy to admire this short film for what it accomplishes on a technical level, and I am sure it has only helped the director's career. I do not want to accuse the man of plagiarism, and so I wish him the best of luck. Just don't forget the name Damon Knight.

"Larutanatural" is a 10-minute live action short film from 2004, so almost 15 years old now, maybe older depending on when you read this review. The writer and director is Àlex Pastor and this was his very first filmmaking effort from a fruitful career he's enjoying since then that also led him to American English-language film starring the likes of Chris Pine. But yeah, back to this one here. I think it is pretty impressive for a rookie effort and lets me think that we will see some great stuff in the future from him. A very grown-up film for a man in his early 20s, certainly better than the first works by many legendary filmmakers. The film's title can be read from the first letter or from the last letter and the word is the same. And that is no coincidence as the film plays backwards from the final days of the protagonist to his youth and eventually birth while realizing at the same time that everything is written. He evaluates his life seeing what happens from the perspective of an old man as he is the voice-over narrator in this movie. Something you frequently see in Spanish movies I believe and it worked well. It felt right and insightful listening to him talk about his child, the love of his life and life in general. I felt the film needed a little while to get going strongly and really get me involved, but when it did, it was a very meaningful watch. I can see why it scored such a strong amount of awards recognition back then. Go watch it and make sure you have a set of good subtitles unless you are fluent in Spanish as the narration is very fast and spot-on and requires you to understand every single word perferrably. I give this movie a thumbs-up without hesitation. It is also a film that will make you think a bit. Everybody is talking about death and their fear from nothingness that happens afterwards, but nobody thinks about the nothingness for millions if not billions of years before we were born. Annd you will when the closing credits roll in. Also liked the reference about how we are born in pain and blood and the more I think about the film, the more I like it I must say. Maybe I will rewatch it at some point and then give it an even better rating. Right now I think it's not a must-see, but certainly very much recommend checking it out.