Review: Egg

“Egg” is a short film starring Jeff Swearingen, Mac Grimes, Ka Beesler, Chazz Thomas and Stacy Nelson. Directed by Jayson Densman. Story by Jeremy C. Shipp

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream"-Edgar Allan Poe

“Egg” is a surrealistic short film that reminded me of some of the films of Takahiko Iimura, or the early works of David Lynch. Like a typical Lynch film, “Egg” has a dream logic all its own-identities are switched; a person can be in a room with an older version of himself; nightmarish images can flash across the screen. Like a dream, “Egg” is a collection of images, a fractured puzzle that is left to the viewer to decipher.

The best way I can describe this film is if someone placed a camera directly into the brain of a young man named Lane (Jeff Swearingen) and filmed his dreams. The opening sequence shows young Lane as a child (Mac Grimes) locked in his room. He is soon visited by his domineering father, who casually insults the boy (a disturbing hand drawing by the boy strongly suggests sexual abuse at the hands of the father). Young Lane then escapes the house and soon finds himself in an abandoned mill with a strange old man. The old man gives the boy an egg with curious markings on it and tells him “you will need it more than I do.” What does the egg mean? Rebirth? Lane’s mind? It is never fully explained. From here, the film becomes a fragmented set of experiences by the adult Lane. A beautiful young woman named Marcella (Stacy Nelson) is introduced. Is she real or just a figment of his imagination? What prompts the adult Lane to have a brief but violent encounter with his father (who has not aged)? How does Lane end up back in the room from his childhood?

Director Densman is quite gifted as a visual artist. For such a short film with a small budget, he does a remarkable job at capturing some striking images (among two were an eerie effect in which young Lane seems to disappear as he opens a window to escape from his room; as well as “flash” image of Marcella [perhaps a single frame shot] that suggests she is a figment of Lane’s imagination).

Not all aspects of the film work. Again, this is a very enigmatic film and will more likely frustrate rather than entertain any viewer not up for a challenge. Furthermore, some aspects seemed more nonsensical than intriguing, in particular a mime character I just did not see as essential to the story (I’m sure there is a hidden meaning to the mime I just did not figure out).

Still, “Egg” is quite an impressive effort for such a low budget short film. Usually, the "cousin" of movies is literature, be it stories or plays. There is usually a story to tell and a plot to follow, from beginning to middle to end. “Egg” is not such a film: it is more akin to looking at a painting or sculpture-the meaning comes more from the immediate visual experience rather than from the story. Some unique (and great) films, share this trait: Bergman's “Persona,” Kubrick's “2001,” Tati's “Playtime,” Richard Linklaetter's “Waking Life” and Lynch's “Eraserhead” to name a few. I am obviously not putting “Egg” in the same class as those great films, but it is of the same spirit. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys surrealism, as well as films that leave it to the viewers to find their own meaning.

Note: This DVD is currently available exclusively ay www.rawdogscreaming.com.

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