Written and directed by Comfort Tanie Maseko, after a suicide pact gone wrong, our protagonist wakes up to find that she remains on earth as an angel. Unable to remember how she died, she roams the streets at night hoping to find answers. Starring: Avania Costello and Jakub Trybull.
Comfort Tanie Maseko dives right in with an atmospheric and nostalgic aesthetic, quickly establishing the limbo world that Cherubs Grow on Trees exists within. There’s a charged yet free-flowing quality to the way that it moves. It almost feels like we’re about to enter a Kate Bush music video, with everything having a background of layered emotions while dance and artistic touches take the forefront.
However, then switching to an overwhelming colour palette is a very harsh transition. It undoubtedly succeeds in completely changing the tone, but it feels like it’s doing a disservice to the atmosphere and presence Maseko had already built. It pulls Cherubs Grow on Trees down to earth so much that it loses that ethereal quality and its overt choice clashes with the more subtle first half of the short.
There’s a similar struggle between the narration and the dance, the tones don’t always feel like they’re matching each other. The narration is very strong, it’s delivered really well with a nicely pensive quality and a slightly bitter edge. Avania Costello brings an eloquent softness to her tone, one which gradually changes and intensifies as her character realises the situation. Whereas the dance can veer into a less tense tone and makes them at odds rather than strengthening one another.
Although, the progression of the story similarly does well, almost creating a Romeo and Juliet parallel with added angst and fury. Again, Maseko does a nice job of adjusting and evolving the tone as the story moves forward, to allow for that sharp change. It perhaps doesn’t close itself out with a satisfying bang, but it also doesn’t leave anything too open-ended. It does also temper that with a well-designed end credits sequence, topped by a strong score, a factor that is often underappreciated.
Cherubs Grow on Trees has an interesting concept and builds an atmospheric setting to bring to it to life. Some elements are stronger than others, the narration and initial style are well done but the overt latter scenes don’t quite come together. The tone works and you can see the intentions but without a more cohesive blend between the two different styles, it can’t quite achieve the sharpness and punch that it had set up.
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