Gaze – Dir. Farnoosh Samadi
Gaze is an Iranian short film about a woman who sees a man pickpocket someone on the bus home from work, after confronting the man she is stalked home in this very tense short film.
Gaze reminds me of Micheal Haneke, an Austrian film director who’s known for films with no music, slow pacing, long shots, and lots of tension. This short film in particular reminded me of his film Caché, which is a film that builds tension not through music but through sound design and cinematography.
Gaze is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio which gives the film a claustrophobic feeling and the use of sound and foley to build tension adds to that feeling. In the final half of the short our main protagonist is being stalked by a man on a motorcycle, they used the sound of the motorcycle while it was off screen a lot of the time. You know the threat that the sound brings and it builds anxiety in the viewer and makes us think of questions like ‘Is she going to be caught?’ and ‘Will she make it home?’.
Overall I really enjoyed Gaze. I thought it was a thought-provoking, anxiety-inducing, and well-made short film.