简介：In his trailer for the Viennale, THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH, Lav Diaz tells the story of a boy who has aspirations – he educates himself and forges plans. One day there’s a knock on the door, someone leaves and he is literally left out in the rain. Thunder cracks and lightning flashes, water pelts down and engulfs everything. Incredulously, the boy looks up to the heavens – is this supposed to be his destiny? THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH is probably the shortest film Lav Diaz has ever made – a grain rich in meaning. (V'18 Trailer: THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH von Lav Diaz）
The idea of commissioning Lav Diaz to direct a two-minute trailer might sound like a cinephilic jest. But the result of this experiment in contrasts is a dense, evocative short film that transmits layers of narrative and mystery in its brief run time. Aesthetically speaking, THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH resembles some of Diaz’s early shadowy black-and-white works, albeit marked by a somewhat softer, finer touch. While maintaining a focus on the relations of family, and the importance of place, its tone departs starkly from Diaz’s often wrenching epic-realist sensibilities. It involves a young boy, an anonymous son, who lives seemingly self-sustained in what might be the present and might be the end of the world. He is alone amid an ostensibly functional, if precarious universe. His occupations form a picture of early subjectivity – and a prompt to explore, from the inner self to an ever-obscured life outside. (Rachael A. Rakes)
