Unblending Review

September 27, 2024 at 2:24pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a short film that explores structural dissociation, which is an experience where falling asleep can be a real challenge. A situation I’m sure many have experienced at some point in their life is trying to sleep and just feeling overloaded.

I know I have, dancing thoughts and so much to focus on or things that need to be done while you aim to just sleep peacefully. The element of structural dissociation takes that a step further as splits in the mind are typically due to adapting to an environment or impact of trauma. So just picture that aspect of what you may have to deal with a troublesome night of sleep and mix in a traumatic element.

This could come in various forms, but one where walls or splits are present and all these little extra parts are seeking to get through. In turn we get this brief, wacky and ultimately cute journey through what that can feel like but presented in an artistic film way.

This is a hand drawn animation using a blend of neutral colors splashed with some more hardcore ones that really present the highs and lows of this situation well. There’s also a nice little brief funny critter that pops up towards the end and that was particularly fun.

It’s lovely to have something that’s eye catching, brief and gets the entire feeling across in such an excellent way. I was thoroughly impressed by the presentation here. The art direction really nails the mood and what the creator, Michelle Ku is attempting to get across.

The Conclusion

Unblending is a beautiful, brief and to the point dive into sleeping while dealing with structural dissociation. I was attempting in my first writing to sort of create a natural comparison one may have to something in this situation which is a step further. So I hope that came across properly here.

It was a lovely little adventure with nice visual aesthetics and while very quick along with being simple I completely understood what was trying to be said. The aim for calm presented by the creator’s experience with working on somatic healing and then there always being a little thing peaking out despite the best efforts. Very nicely done, I enjoyed it.

Unblending Review at Home with Streamed Viewing during Calgary Film Festival
Screening Provided by The National Film Board of Canada

Rating Overall: 9.0