Another Hole in the Head Film Festival 2024 Coverage
Essai 21 review
An extremely experimental film about empty places.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Essai 21
Directed by Florian Mauny
Written by Florian Mauny
Essai 21 Review
Skinamarink was a controversial movie in one very specific way. Mainly…whether it was even a movie. When I reviewed it upon its release, I called it an experiment that pays off. Admittedly, it isn’t the most exciting thing to watch…but it leaves you with the desired effect. Thinking back on Skinamarink recalls a nightmare you had where you remember every single moment. Dreams don’t have to make sense to be effective. Why have we opened this review with a healthy dose of Skinamarink talk? The two films have a lot in common. If you’ve seen Skinamarink, you have probably already deduced what kind of movie you are in for. Or should I say…what kind of experiment.
Essai 21 isn’t about a dream or a nightmare. It’s the story of a person wandering through empty places. This character never appears on screen. They never speak a word. In fact, Essai 21 has no dialog whatsoever. It’s simply a series of videos showing us through the empty world of our protagonist. A vlog filmed by a shy vlogger, if you will.
Like Skinamarink, Essai 21 uses a series of unique images to tell its story. The former would focus on the edge of a couch or the corner of a room for long stretches while words are whispered off camera. The latter, sans dialog, presents shots of locations we travel deeper into. We travel through the woods…an empty movie theater…an empty department store…and empty house. Places we feel like we aren’t supposed to be. It’s an interesting concept…but not one that can fill a feature length film. Essai 21 clocks in at just 65 minutes. A good call…even if it still stretches patience thin.
As little plot as Essai 21 is keen on delivering…it does a good job of creating a narrative form. It opens with several shots of the mundane nature of the protagonists’ day-to-day life. A full first act is in place before we start pushing through places we shouldn’t be. You understand why this person has started doing so. An impressive feat with nothing but repetitive imagery.
Our destinations become increasingly creepy. The lack of speech and on-screen characters offers its own unnerving energy. The problem comes from figuring out the loop. Once you see the pattern beginning to repeat itself…the effectiveness wears off. Where Skinamarink left you with the memory of a bad dream…Essai only finds the memory of a slow journey into nothing. Interesting, yes. Exciting…hardly ever.
As with all experiments, however, Essai 21 should be given a try. For everyone who thought Skinamarink was a movie about nothing…someone else saw a dream that continues to resonate with them. I could just be on the other side of things with Essai 21. Someone else could watch it and be fascinated by the trip…finding meaning and connection in the spaces the movie leaves empty. I suspect most will simply see a camera moving through vacant scenery. The only connection lying in our silent protagonist’s desire to push into the unknown…to break the pattern of their regular life. Essai 21 replaces it with a new pattern. It makes one wonder if that was the point. I guess there is still some thinking to do about the movie after all.
Movies driven by experiments are difficult to discuss. There’s no second trick to Essai 21. You view a journey into nothing through the eyes of an unseen, silent protagonist. If that sounds like a worthwhile experience, by all means search for your own personal meaning. If it sounds like a video you stumbled on watching YouTube…scrubbing forward to see if it ended up somewhere interesting…Essai 21 actually might in a strange, depressing and existential way. Patterns and repetitions. Loops and life. … I just realized that Essai 21 has started to make me think. Perhaps a worthy experiment after all.
Scare Value
Essai 21 features no characters on screen, no dialog, and the loosest definition of a plot. It’s an experiment from beginning to end. The issue with movies like this is that they run the risk of tedium once the viewer figures out that nothing is going to break the pattern. Skinamarink had a lot of weirdness to keep its experimental dream lucid and memorable. Essai 21 takes you on a journey through empty spaces…and fills them with nothing.
