South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival – When a beautiful woman cannot stand the excruciating passage of time, her grief and anger turns her into a literal black hole. As she sucks everything around her into her blackness, filling the void within her with anything within reach, an entire grief-stricken, morbid world is created inside of her. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years pass, and her cyclical absorption creates a world of sadness and emptiness around her. Until, that is, one day – when a Singularity awakens inside her. A beautiful, ethereal light, ready to guide her back to life, and home.

Combining two singular (no pun or reference intended) types of animation, O Black Hole! is undeniable on every level. Iconic and new- the kind of thing college kids will be getting tattooed on their bodies for years to come. The sort of imagery that will strike people to their core for decades if this gets out to the right audiences – I can imagine beautiful dioramas of the Black Hole in people’s homes, model figures of the characters on beloved office bookshelves. I myself wonder how I can buy prints of certain imagery from the opening sequence, which is presented in a stop-motion watercolor and graphite dreamy state.

Mournful musical melodies intertwine throughout the short 16 minute runtime of O Black Hole!, building an iconic and haunting world that like a black hole itself is impossible to escape from. Score by Harry Brokensha and incredible vocal performances from an ensemble of actors and singers who recorded from their own homes somehow transform into a cohesive chorus of voices both tragic and joyous. The moral of the story is simple and beautiful and worth breathing in every rapturous moment of O Black Hole! 

O Black Hole! reviewed as part of our South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival coverage.

 

8 out of 10

 

O Black Hole!
RATING: NR No Trailer Available
Runtime: 16 Mins.
Directed By:
Written By:

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Makeup Artist, Monster Maker, Educator, Producer, Haunt-lover, and all around Halloween freak. When Miranda isn't watching horror films, she's making them happen. When she's not doing either of those things, she's probably dreaming about them. Or baking cookies.