"Darkness Falls" is a 15-minute short by Swedish director Jarno Lee Vinsencius, in Swedish with English subtitles. It begins with a young woman—Melissa, convincingly played by Joanna Haggblom—waking up in a snowy forest, suffering from amnesia. The psychiatrist she visits assumes that she was abducted and abused by human predators, and Melissa, understandably, seems to accept this assumption. Then she meets David, a strange man who tells her what's really happening to her and the rest of the world. It all sounds crazy to Melissa—again, understandably—but. . .well, just check it out.
For a film this short, the plot must be kept fairly simple, and the makers of "Darkness Falls" did an admirable job of compacting a basic conflict and storyline. It has many honed-down similarities to the various films based on Philip K. Dick's novels—"Blade Runner," "Imposter," "Screamers," et al—with some small but significant twists of its own. It's hard to see where it's all going--a good quality, of course—and one way or another, it doesn't end at all predictably. The mood and atmosphere, as you've probably surmised, are dark and creepily somber, but the film is not entirely humorless. The ultra-fine cinematography, visuals, pacing, and camera work enhance everything greatly; indeed, "Darkness Falls" won an award for Best Cinematography at the 2016 Roswell Film Festival, as well as several other awards and nominations. It is, of course, an indie made on a presumably low budget, but in the last areas mentioned, it tops many big company productions. There is no cheap gore and no sex/nudity; "Darkness Falls" accomplishes all it sets out to do without sensationalism or gimmicks.
Some of the more critical reviews have been due to the supposed lack of plot and character development in "Darkness Falls." I can see where those critics are coming from, but I (and obviously many others) just don't see it that way. How good this film is has as much to do with the audience's perspective than it does with intrinsic qualities. Most of us are used to movies being at least an hour in length, and if the audience cannot adapt to its condensed format, "Darkness Rising" will seem more like a prolonged trailer than a real film. Still, reading a 1-5 page short-short story on paper, we don't expect a whole lot of background on the characters, but if the story's done well, we can generally see all that's really necessary. There is no reason why the same thing cannot be accomplished on film, and "Darkness Falls" succeeds in doing that. Up until the events shown in these 15 minutes, Melissa is apparently an everyday "normal" person—Anything else about her is pretty irrelevant. This sort of minimalism is not for everybody; nevertheless, the rising popularity of short films such as this is exciting, and they have many advantages: You can take in several a day, easily rewatch, and all that kind of stuff.
For a film this short, the plot must be kept fairly simple, and the makers of "Darkness Falls" did an admirable job of compacting a basic conflict and storyline. It has many honed-down similarities to the various films based on Philip K. Dick's novels—"Blade Runner," "Imposter," "Screamers," et al—with some small but significant twists of its own. It's hard to see where it's all going--a good quality, of course—and one way or another, it doesn't end at all predictably. The mood and atmosphere, as you've probably surmised, are dark and creepily somber, but the film is not entirely humorless. The ultra-fine cinematography, visuals, pacing, and camera work enhance everything greatly; indeed, "Darkness Falls" won an award for Best Cinematography at the 2016 Roswell Film Festival, as well as several other awards and nominations. It is, of course, an indie made on a presumably low budget, but in the last areas mentioned, it tops many big company productions. There is no cheap gore and no sex/nudity; "Darkness Falls" accomplishes all it sets out to do without sensationalism or gimmicks.
Some of the more critical reviews have been due to the supposed lack of plot and character development in "Darkness Falls." I can see where those critics are coming from, but I (and obviously many others) just don't see it that way. How good this film is has as much to do with the audience's perspective than it does with intrinsic qualities. Most of us are used to movies being at least an hour in length, and if the audience cannot adapt to its condensed format, "Darkness Rising" will seem more like a prolonged trailer than a real film. Still, reading a 1-5 page short-short story on paper, we don't expect a whole lot of background on the characters, but if the story's done well, we can generally see all that's really necessary. There is no reason why the same thing cannot be accomplished on film, and "Darkness Falls" succeeds in doing that. Up until the events shown in these 15 minutes, Melissa is apparently an everyday "normal" person—Anything else about her is pretty irrelevant. This sort of minimalism is not for everybody; nevertheless, the rising popularity of short films such as this is exciting, and they have many advantages: You can take in several a day, easily rewatch, and all that kind of stuff.