First off, a little about David O'Reilly. David is known for making 3D short films and has also written and directed 2 video games. Likely his most famous short film was "The External World" which was mainly a comedy with very dark undertones to it. I do own and adore his one video game called "Everything," which utilizes the modern philosopher Allan Watts to convey the scope of the universe to the player. But by far, my favorite of his works was his short film "Please Say Something."
Let's begin.
The basic premise behind "Please Say Something" is actually a very common story. It is merely a story about a relationship that is, at times, very rocky. However, the people of the film are portrayed only with cats and mice. There are no other types of animals represented in the film at all. It centers around a married couple who we will called Mouse and Cat. Mouse is the man and Cat is the female.
Mouse seems to be a struggling writer. Cat does her best to support him. From the beginning you can already see that their relationship is struggling and likely from being in a rut. The story takes them to a lot of tough moments such as a car wreck and deals with difficult subjects like suicide, divorce, and fear of the unknown. However, it is the latter that actually impacts the story most of all.
There is also another very important thing to note about this film. It seems as if life is a dream and the dream itself is their life. Who is the dreamer? Generally, it seems to be Mouse. But there were some moments where it might have been Cat. It also could be someone entirely unknown (perhaps David himself.) And the way the dream is delivered is very familiar to me, and that is going to be the main focus of this blog. You may find it interesting to hear that I dream in a similar fashion to this film.
Because the story itself seems to be entirely a dream where no one ever wakes up, the film is riddled with anomalies. Near the beginning, Cat is seen pushing her way through what appears to be either a windy day or a blizzard. There are a lot of rather bizarre advertisements in the background that she does not seem to take notice of. When I dream, I see things like that too. I may see odd things happening around town that make no sense, but I accept them a normal. They are merely the background fuzz and have no bearing on my situation at the time. Even in this film, those odd backgrounds really have no purpose. Cat ignores them, and eventually so will the viewer.
One very prominent reoccurrence in "Please Say Something" was the aspect of rewinding time. Throughout the film, bad things and sometimes horrendous things happen. They happen naturally and are often tragic. Suddenly the scene falls back to a moment earlier and the scene plays out a second time in a much nicer way. It is as if the dreamer was surprised by how things went and immediately tried to correct it.
Often these "rewind" moments happen very quickly. Something bad happens, and the scene just flicks back and the correction occurs. The characters are not aware that it even happened (because the dreamer was the one who fixed it.) However, there was one moment that went a little longer and used a slightly more obvious mechanic. Cat finally gets tired of Mouse being too absorbed in his writing. She leaves him and they get a divorce. Life seems to go on for years. Cat finds another cat and marries him but is ultimately miserable for it. Mouse finally finishes his book but realizes he threw away the one that he loved in the process. So what does he do? He grabs the TV remote and rewinds times to make the fix himself. He even winks at the camera to show that he could do the trick all along. This is the only time the character seemed to be in charge of the rewind, but then again, it could still be the dreamer imposing the ability on Mouse.
This rewind ability is one I am very accustomed to in my own dreams. Being able to rewind does not mean you are controlling your dreams. It is more likely that your mind is trying to correct a horrible mistake that it made. It's a lot like looking the other way when the truth is inconvenient. Your brain says, "No, I won't accept that. Here, let's do it this way instead. It makes me happier." In my own dreams, I often change something that goes wrong. If someone in my family is killed, I'll step back and it doesn't happen the second time around. Sometimes, it takes multiple tries for it to go correctly (also represented in this movie, by the way.) Once again, I am not controlling my dream, I am merely dreaming defensively. It is not abnormal for someone to want things to go better than they did. In dreams, your fear of tragedy and desire to fix them will begin to play out without your consent. You may feel like you are doing it, but you are not.
Another interesting anomaly in the film is the use of a test pattern that will occasionally pop on the screen accompanied by a beep. Throughout the film, things seem to rise with intensity. The colors get more intense and the sounds get upsetting. When the test pattern appears, there seems to be an emotional reset that occurs. Often sound will stop altogether. Music will stop playing. The colors will reset to something more normal. It feels a lot like a blink.
"Please Say Something" has a very slow build of emotions that are often broken by this blink effect. And it actually is not a bad thing. We need the reprieve after being hit by so many hard subjects. Nevertheless, the blink of the test pattern does not always fix the situation. Sometimes it happens and things are just as bad as they were before. This gives a little more credence to the reality of the film. These things may actually be happening. The car crash was particularly tragic. Neither the test pattern or a reversal of time was able to stop it. It happened and the characters had no choice but to deal with the consequences. They may have been in a dream, but the dreamer was not able to do anything at all to remedy it.
The blink of the test pattern to me signifies my ability to try and make sense of what it going on. It is me trying to clear my mind and see through the chaotic world of my dream. I'm trying so desperately to figure out what is going on. Something isn't right, but the logical part of my brain is not working at full capacity. I'm confused and I just need a moment to solve the puzzle. Bad things are happening, and I need to think more clearly.
Early in the film, Cat loses a scarf that was very dear to her when the wind snatched it away. She liked the scarf because Mouse said it looked good on her. Later in the film, Cat succumbs to her wounds from the car wreck. She dies. Mouse sees his entire world fall apart. The entire structure of the world separates into simple shapes and colors to represent this aspect of his reality. Mouse sees no reason to continue living and decides to kill himself. It is at this moment that the scarf slaps him in the face. He takes it back to Cat, and she wakes up as if she never had died at all.
The odd thing about this is that you get a sense that the scarf was completely gone when it gets blown away the first time. You also feel as if so much time had passed between the time it blow away and the time when it hits Mouse in the face. But then again, this is likely the same dream throughout. This is not a collection of dreams. It is only one dream happening over one night of sleep. The scarf was always there. It was simply taken away for a brief period so it could fix a situation that was going to happen near the end of the story.
Even in my own dreams, I have items and plot points that disappear only to reappear towards the latter part of the dream (even after substantial plot and setting changes.) Time and space have no meaning in dreams. They are placed together in any fashion so that everything ultimately works by the end of it. If it doesn't end up working, you are probably going to wake up! Good conclusions in dreams are hard to get to, but they can happen. Ultimately Mouse and Cat come to that happy ending and the dreamer is able to wake up peacefully.
"Please Say Something" is, in my own opinion, the finest work of David O'Reilly. It takes the concepts of a dream and uses them to fuel what would commonly be considered a canned plot. It gives that plot new life and allows us a more visual way to understand how our subconscious works.
The video can be viewed by clicking the link below:
https://youtu.be/Q2YdJy0w66Y
Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Meow! Squeak!
It was unlike any dream of my own but interesting that it was dreaming in your "style." Yes, it was thoughts and feelings as scenario and the scenario adapted to problems. Like dreams, everything was symbolic. The "scarf" was Cat's beauty (youth) and she worried when she lost it. Mouse assured her that he didn't mind but then paid her no mind. The "remote" was opportunity to make right what was going wrong. The "future" was a warning. Fascinating how dreams and fiction are cut from the same cloth.
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation of the scarf! Rings true! Films like this are meant to be open to interpretations. We can all see the same film but learn different lessons from them.
DeleteThe short film is fantastic. The dream logic added so much more to what would have normally been a depressing tale of a dysfunctional relationship. The impact was amplified as all the unknown possibilities were explored mixing surrealism with the everyday realism of the rut. Dreams are full of symbolism, our subconscious communicates in wonderful and unexpected ways. The "rewind" ability was one that I am personally familiar with, like you said it's not a control but a defense.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to find someone else who knows about the rewind ability. Everyone seems to dream differently. I have talked to Shawn a lot about dreams, and he doesn't seem to relate to any of it. It's not just him. I get a lot of a weird looks from others. Looks like you and me had similar processes in our subconscious.
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