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Film Review | OverAgain (2016)

Film run-time: 4 minutes | Starring Riley Dandy, Sam Krumrine
Written and Directed by Marc Pannia, Written and Produced by Lilianna Wilde, Cinematography by Marco Tomaselli

OverAgain“, a 2016 short film by Marc Pannia, is a testament to thought, action, and their often contradictory intersection, in the course of charting one’s trajectory in life, love and loss. In reminiscence, a clarity of thought is addled by a nostalgic record of the past. Sam retraces his relationship with his girlfriend Riley, and how it led to a decisive, grounding moment for both.

Memory, as a device of selective bias, has time and again proven to be unreliable as a concrete source of knowledge. Yet, the ability to retain certain moments, ones deemed significant for preservation, allows it to serve as a remedial organ; capable of creating connections where none may have existed. By excising elements extraneous to a chosen narrative, Sam crafts a perfect illusion of harmony.

Positioned as a snapshot of the lifespan of Sam and Riley’s relationship, Pannia allows the camera to wander and seek out distinguishing features, not unlike that of an eye compelled—there are images of Riley in all manner of exuberance, but curiously deprived of the full emotional range a human being is doubtlessly equipped with. As such, the images the viewer sees take on an artifice of imagination, vividly coloured by Sam’s wistful fondness.

As an illustration of the impact of perspective, “OverAgain” is a beguiling experience not unlike one’s attempts at mental reconstructions of the bygone past. By embodying the conjurings of a mind’s eye, instilling a “truth” that cannot be readily averted, Pannia manages to observe not only the tenuous quality of recollection, but also the willful distortion of reality, that often bears a painful difference from the objectivity of a shared life.

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