Short Film Review: Out of Darkness

"I have hundreds of souls dancing inside of me." 

It's hard to explain just how devastatingly moving Out of Darkness is. Written and directed by Manjinder Virk, it sees 9 people tell a story - the same story or maybe their own - the narrative is fragmented and shared by all. Ostensibly it is the same story, the varied experiences of death that an aid worker has gone through, but in the hands of this company, it is enriched, enhanced, expanded so that it does feel different in each of their hands. 

And what a cast Virk has assembled here, all shot from their head and shoulders - Tom Hiddleston may be the better known but my heart leapt to see Monica Dolan and Noma Dumezweni in there and in the stark black and white cinematography that makes the headshots feel like portraiture make it simply gorgeous to look at. 

Harry Escott's plangent score deepens the emotional current that runs through the film but to hear this cast talk of death, and life, and death with such purity and clarity -Andrew Gower is heartbreaking, Jimmy Akingbola too and the rich timbre of Dumezweni’s voice has never sounded more elegantly powerful - it is scarcely needed. I urge you to spend the tiny amount of money required to see this film in full, I promise you won't regret it.


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