VERDICT: The new short film from Radu Muntean is a low-key thriller that transforms tranquil forest bathing into something far more brooding and disquieting.
The forest is a place of beauty and peace at the beginning of Index.
The realm of an ornithologist (Adrian Vancica) going about his daily activities, it is a place for following the weft of birdsong through the trees, photographing wings fluttering in the canopy, and checking camera traps with anticipation of welcome nocturnal visitors. That very same forest becomes eminently darker and more threatening in Index, though. Radu Muntean expertly turns the atmosphere on a dime when some grainy infrared footage seems to a reveal a child living wild in the woods and the protagonist begins to try to coax it out.
There is something to be said for the stripped back nature and restraint of Index. Muntean leans into the rhythms of his character’s existence in the forest where the pace is slow and movements must be caught with the corner of the eye. While Electric Brother’s sound design suggests a forest teeming with avian life, it is not one of spring sunshine. The sky is mostly overcast and beneath the trees there is a shadowy quality that comes to the fore as Tudor Vladimir Panduru’s cinematography seems to lean further into the gloom as the minimalist narrative unfolds.
The ornithologist continues about his work – setting up camera traps and leaving out tins of food to tempt this new human subject into the path of their lenses – but the film’s tone palpably shifts as the audience begins to sense an unease, a danger, that he seems unaware of. Muntean and Panduru’s framing never over-emphasises these elements, allowing the threat to silently glide past the corner of the composition. It makes for an unsettling and gripping low-key two-handed thriller.
Director, screenplay: Radu Muntean
Cast: Adrian Vancica, Alexandru Bumbariuc
Producers: Anamaria Antoci, Anda Ionescu
Cinematography: Tudor Vladimir Panduru
Editing: Andu Radu
Sound: Nicolae Comarzan, Electric Brother, Marius Leftarache
Set design: Anca Lazar
Costume design: Eliza Frone
Hair and make-up: Ana Mihalache
Production company: Tangaj Production (Romania)
Venue: Sarajevo Film Festival (Competition – Short Film)
No dialogue
29 minutes
