Omeleto | THE HERRING GIRLS | Omeleto @Omeleto | Uploaded August 2024 | Updated October 2024, 12 hours ago.
A young woman loses touch with reality.
THE HERRING GIRLS is used with permission from Rekha Garten. Learn more at https://rekhagarton.com.
Annag is alone in the world. Working as a "herring girl" gutting and packing fish during the fishing season, she has no family, and she is treated as an outsider by the other women in her community. That sense of isolation only compounds as she begins having strange "waking dreams" of being drawn to the deep coastal waters off the English coastline where she lives and works.
Annag desperately tries to hide her increasingly slippery grasp on reality. But as the other herring girls notice Annag's erratic behavior and demeanor, they begin to get suspicious of Annag, driving her deeper to the blurry line between fantasy and reality.
Directed and written by Rekha Garton, this visually ravishing historical fantasy-horror short chronicles the spiritual and supernatural awakening of a societal outsider. Annag doesn't quite "fit" in her small insular community, where she is orphaned and ostracized. Very much on her own, she is especially distressed when she begins having what seems to be visions or hallucinations that leave her disoriented and fearful.
Taking place in the late 18th century, the film portrays these visions with a dark lyricism, in images that are truly visual poetry in their haunting beauty. Annag hears things at night, and she sees herself in deep waters, captured with an elegant, flowing rhythm and painterly eye. She feels pulled to the deep, mysterious waters off the coast, keeping herself separate from the other girls she works with.
The storytelling has the interesting tension of being visually rich but economical in dialogue. The few explicit details and conversations evoke a compelling mystery, especially emphasizing Annag's difference from the other girls. The stakes are raised as the other young women notice Annag's oddness, which is heightened as her visions become more detailed. Other changes happen within Annag, as well, and as Annag, actor Nicola Gar conveys the uncertainty and fear of potential madness. However, the other herring girls seem to understand what's happening to Annag. And just as Annag finally understands what is happening to her, the other girls take action.
Otherworldly and hypnotic, THE OTHER HERRING GIRLS trafficks in mythos and mystery, and even in the end, the film reveals some of its secrets while raising deeper mysteries of its strange, portentous world. It deftly etches out its historical period and raw, rural and impoverished setting, but its most spell-binding aspect is its storytelling perspective, which overlays a young woman's coming into her power with the brutal betrayal of the world around her. In a world full of superstition and fear of the different, Annag is a unique creature compared to those around her, silencing her song just as she understands her inner magic.
A young woman loses touch with reality.
THE HERRING GIRLS is used with permission from Rekha Garten. Learn more at https://rekhagarton.com.
Annag is alone in the world. Working as a "herring girl" gutting and packing fish during the fishing season, she has no family, and she is treated as an outsider by the other women in her community. That sense of isolation only compounds as she begins having strange "waking dreams" of being drawn to the deep coastal waters off the English coastline where she lives and works.
Annag desperately tries to hide her increasingly slippery grasp on reality. But as the other herring girls notice Annag's erratic behavior and demeanor, they begin to get suspicious of Annag, driving her deeper to the blurry line between fantasy and reality.
Directed and written by Rekha Garton, this visually ravishing historical fantasy-horror short chronicles the spiritual and supernatural awakening of a societal outsider. Annag doesn't quite "fit" in her small insular community, where she is orphaned and ostracized. Very much on her own, she is especially distressed when she begins having what seems to be visions or hallucinations that leave her disoriented and fearful.
Taking place in the late 18th century, the film portrays these visions with a dark lyricism, in images that are truly visual poetry in their haunting beauty. Annag hears things at night, and she sees herself in deep waters, captured with an elegant, flowing rhythm and painterly eye. She feels pulled to the deep, mysterious waters off the coast, keeping herself separate from the other girls she works with.
The storytelling has the interesting tension of being visually rich but economical in dialogue. The few explicit details and conversations evoke a compelling mystery, especially emphasizing Annag's difference from the other girls. The stakes are raised as the other young women notice Annag's oddness, which is heightened as her visions become more detailed. Other changes happen within Annag, as well, and as Annag, actor Nicola Gar conveys the uncertainty and fear of potential madness. However, the other herring girls seem to understand what's happening to Annag. And just as Annag finally understands what is happening to her, the other girls take action.
Otherworldly and hypnotic, THE OTHER HERRING GIRLS trafficks in mythos and mystery, and even in the end, the film reveals some of its secrets while raising deeper mysteries of its strange, portentous world. It deftly etches out its historical period and raw, rural and impoverished setting, but its most spell-binding aspect is its storytelling perspective, which overlays a young woman's coming into her power with the brutal betrayal of the world around her. In a world full of superstition and fear of the different, Annag is a unique creature compared to those around her, silencing her song just as she understands her inner magic.
