The Blue Fall

Although first out on NOWNESS in 2015, the film The Blue Fall only recently came to my attention. It is an extremely short (under two minutes) and beautifully danced, filmed, and edited piece, featuring dancer and choreographer Nicole Morel with direction by Esteban. Morel has a lovely ethereal quality and in this short her movement is inherently emotional, suggesting a state that alternates between torment and a search for solace.

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Wearing a simple black dress, Morel dances in an empty room, apparently lost somewhere between angst and obsession. From one moment to the next, we see her rolling and almost writhing on the floor or upright executing a slightly contorted gesture that nonetheless is convincingly human and felt. Mid-way through, the film seems to settle into itself and find a rhythm. I am always interested in the fine line between dance and real life, and that notion plays out in The Blue Fall by morphing between movement that is almost balletic and lyrical, and gestures that seem purely visceral and raw. I particularly love the editing towards the second half of the film with cuts that jump non-sequentially like thoughts from one moment to another, and the constant movement of the camera as it traverses the space adding to the films’ inherent tension.

Described in the liner notes as the follow up to the director’s film The Black Spring, The Blue Fall is singular in its sparseness, and features a great score by Sune Martin and beautiful cinematography by Benjamin Loeb.

Enjoy.

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