Directed by Gerard Escuer and written by Gian Bonacchi, a disgruntled secretary flees to Barcelona with damaging evidence against her boss. Facing increasingly challenging decisions on a treacherous path, she makes friends with the woman who has just moved in next door. Starring: SalomeSaliya and Monika Valkunaite.
With the help of composer Toni Moretti, Brain Fog kicks off on a nicely curious and ominous note, sewing distrust into the atmosphere which will serve the rest of short film well. The concept is a fairly timeless one, a lone person seeking to expose injustice but facing a powerful enemy. Especially as their heroine Salomè (SalomeSaliya) is attempting to do so in a calculated manner, rather than simply rushing in and risking her livelihood and life. The note of conspiracy and danger is established well but it does feel like there isn’t enough detail to give enough weight to the consequences.
As Brain Fog moves forward, it puts its focus in pushing that danger but doesn’t progress the corruption alongside it. A little more context could have helped to enhance the intensity, understanding how deep the criminality goes and the breadth and type of people involved. Another reason for that is because the other side of the coin is the unknown element in the neighbour, but she feels transparent. There isn’t really a guessing game at work, it’s clear where it’s headed so while it works, it isn’t leaving enough to reveal to give itself a striking finale.
For the story to hold onto a bigger mystery, it was asking for a decent amount of subtlety from Monika Valkunaite’s performance, but it sadly isn’t there. Valkunaite feels obvious from the get-go, there’s not enough sincerity or a wholesome charm within her portrayal to keep things as uncertain as Brain Fog needs it to be. SalomeSaliya manages to create more consistency with her character but similarly, that sincerity doesn’t come through. The attempts at emotion feel somewhat forced, particularly in the opening, so while her predicament and fear are convincing, she doesn’t ground Salomè and give her a depth. It also feels like her breakdown could have been staggered more to give it a bigger impact.
Although visually the film hits some great notes, Gerard Escuer employs strong framing work. There’s a nice variety to the angles, trying to amp up Salomè’s waning grip on reality, with less conventional choices. The pacing works well, and the filmmakers chose good location choices to keep things simple but not feel basic. The cinematography by Claudio Fontanin Jr. and Davit Kiknadze works similarly to the direction, in establishing an everyday aesthetic without making it feel mundane. Avoiding the typical desire, and often misstep, to make things dark or edgy, to throw things into total chaos and ultimately losing itself, instead they keep things firmly in reality.
Brain Fog builds a good tension, sense of fear and a lingering threat. Gerard Escuer’s direction is nicely consistent to create a feel of unravelling in an intimate setting. The story is solid, it’s playing with a classic concept but it’s missing the subtlety of the performances to strengthen it. The mystery is there but the existence of such a rich background of similar political and thriller stories, makes it fairly plain to see the endgame. The plot works but it needed to wrap itself in a few more layers to shroud its intentions.
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