Meditative, atmospheric, and transcendent in its exploration of loss, Bas Devos' Violet is a striking cinematic achievement which places its emphasis on mood and emotion, far more interested in evoking the trauma experienced by its main protagonist than adhering to narrative and structural norms of cinematic storytelling. Violet is emotionally vibrant and piercing, an exploration of loss which aims to trigger a visceral response from the viewer, one rooted more in desire for emotional than intellectual response. Detailing the exploits of 15-year-old Jesse in the aftermath of his friend Jonas' death, Violet offers a haunting observational study of a young man who witnessed the stabbing death of his close friend, forcing the viewer to inhabit this uncomfortable space with a level of intimacy and honesty that is rare in much of cinema when it comes to the juxtaposition of life and death. Tepidly paced, Violet is a film in which not much happens from a narrative perspective. The film doesn't feel the need to didactically explain Jesse's home life, or his relationship with his friends, opting instead to interject the viewer directly into this world, seeing it through the eyes of our main protagonist as he tries to navigate the social environment he inhabits, now burderened witht he profound effect which loss and grief has on his psyche. The reason Violet works so well is Bas Devos' achievmenets as a director, as the film is a striking artistic achievement due to its ability to visually evoke such a profound part of the human experience, the inter-tangled relationship between life and death, through this artistic medium. Minimalist in terms of dialogue or action, Devos' ability to elicit his character's internal struggle through visuals is paramount throughout Violet, with one great example of this being in how the film plays with focus. Routinely blurring much of the composition, while leaving the main character in crisp, clear focus, Devos' visually expresses the psychological impact loss has on Jesse, as the world around him feels completely inconsequential, with Jesse himself fixated on his inner turmoil early on, locking out the world around him. The overall use of darkness and light is another aspect of Bas Devos' direction that stands out, with the filmmaker using darkness to evoke the detachment and coldness one feels from loss. Dark spaces are prevalent but almost always contrasted with light, often in the same rich composition, as Devos' visually strikes a brooding, aesthetic full of symbolism, one which evokes an emotional and introspective response- the intertwined relationship between life and death. The way Devos' uses silhouette, often visually reducing his characters to two-dimensional objects, ingeniously exhibits the toll loss has on the psyche of Jesse and others directly effected by Jonas' death. These characters are reduced to two-dimensional, binary objects through the use of silhouette, as if Devos' is visually expressing how in times of tragedy, life itself is reduced to a black-and-white, life-and-death simplicity. A mood piece through-and-through, Violet thrives due to its emotional resonance, being a film not only about the psychological effect of loss and grief but also the transcendent effect death has on all of us, particularly the young. Jesse is a character who doesn't know how to feel or expresses his pain, and the film beautifully uses this character to exihibit the shattering of youthful naivety. So removed from it, youth typically views death as a fleeling, foreign concept, but in Violet Jesse is confronted with it, unprepared for the stark impact death always has on the living. An artistic achievement that announces Bas Devos as a filmmaker to watch, Violet is a superbly well-crafted experience that's honest and resonant, detailing the effect death psychologically has on the individual, as well as the need for communication in such times, even when it's extremely hard to express our pain in any external form.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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