The Funeral

There are words that our heart speaks that our mouth can never utter. Often words that define our reality. The truth of the reality that we always have a hard time acknowledging. Even though we try our best to ignore it, this truth haunts us the second we’re alone, when it sees an opportunity to occupy the mind,or in the moment of silence we cannot avoid. Today’s review features a young and creative student director named Sara Eustáquio. She showcases her undeniable promise not just as a director, but also as a writer and as a film editor in the profoundly spoken short film “The Funeral”

Death comes in many ways. Living and non-living things come to this term, as well those that we don’t see. Like feelings, emotions, passion, beliefs, and hope. Sara Eustáquio’s The Funeral is spoken poetry of powerful feelings. It spoke to me. It restored archive thoughts that I used to have when I was younger. It had me thinking of the feelings and experiences I had that made me feel the same. Her words are so real that it will just strike you. It strikes so hard that it will validate the feelings and emotions that you once felt and thought are invalid. That even though it felt like feeling nothing, like free-falling on a hollow empty dark hole, numb, and empty it is still valid to recognize the phase.

The Funeral conveys the thoughts of a young woman. Enjoying the company of friends, loving the loudness of silence, contemplating about life, experiences, failures, and expectations. A night where she concluded her feelings are to be buried. Pronouncing her own funeral to bid her unconfined thoughts and emotions goodbye. Her funeral is not death by dying. It is more of finally acknowledging the phase that she is currently in. The phase she ought to understand. Also, a phase where many of us have experienced and dealt with during our time. Sara Eustáquio was able to highlight the pressure of growing up, living up to expectations, keeping up with comparisons, and dealing with failure. How often it is much more difficult to deal with people’s expectations and how people make life more complex than what it seems. This is the kind of film that can reach many minds and particularly to the hearts of our younger generation, to keep going. That more often than not, death doesn’t have to be the end of all things, but as a part of our timeline where we can look back to see our progress on how much we kept going.

I sincerely appreciate this short film by Sara Eustáquio. The Funeral is powerful, expressive, and emotionally and mentally captivating. I love the rawness of the conceptualization and how it gave focus on not just the protagonist’s feelings but at some point, it also conveyed the general mental stigma concerning the youth. With the overall delivery of the film, this is certainly an impressive work, especially from a student filmmaker. Indeed Sara Eustáquio’s love for filmmaking can translate relevant matters to captivating films, well done!