For anything to be glamourous, it has to be flawless – that is the rule of the game. But, what if a splash of taint ruins it forever? Will it then still be considered worthy of its former glory? Adva Reichman’s 6:03 minutes short, explores the daunting struggle of a burlesque dancer as she strives to match the edges of the silhouette she once was – a woman she’s supposed to be in the eyes of the society.
Sagan Rose plays Taylor, a woman buried under the rubble of her own crushing reality. Her shift from portraying a charming dancer to a woman carrying the cancer gene is tectonic, given its brief run. Taylor is a person caught unawares. In the face of a recommended mastectomy, the nightmare one goes through is imaginable, add to that being a woman in the show business and you get Silhouette. A scene that perhaps best captures this would be the one where Taylor stares down at her breasts, her face a picture of utter helplessness and loss.
In its short runtime, Reichman’s narrative hits the right notes, managing to build the atmosphere of anxiety but if only it were longer by a couple more minutes, the climax would have had its fitting impact. At its existing length, the film only manages to lure in the viewer but not enough to make them invest in Taylor’s journey. That having said, Reichman knows how to add characters to her plot to drive home the message. For instance, Taylor’s mother, a patient and victim to the society’s pressures herself well illustrates how it isn’t just health disorders that are inherited. Reichman also adds backstory to our character, by giving us a glimpse of her as a little girl fawning over her mother while twirling around in the room.
The place Silhouette soars is with its music. Nami Melumad’s enticing beats gradually sets in a hypnotic rhythm to the film. In the moments where Taylor is void of hope, the background score remains subtle too, reinforcing that listlessness. The music used in the climax particularly is fitting, to say the least.
The lighting does well to accentuate the timeline of the film – well played both on stage and off stage. Ariana Berenson’s editing deserves special mentioning, especially in the dance sequences, wherein it sews effortlessly different shots (cinematography by Tiffany Danielle Brooks) without going off sync to the background score or timeline of the film. Silhouette is a woman’s journey, but not just to recovery and healing, but inward as well. It’s a question raised rightfully to the society that is restrictively harsher to the fairer sex and is a poignant philosophy that one might as well consider thinking about in their spare time.
#ShortFilmReview: Silhouette: She feared a mastectomy would kill her dreams. She was wrong… Share on X