PANDORA'S PARADOX

Directed by Matthew Saliba
Written by Matthew Saliba
Produced by Matthew Saliba
Cinematography by Chris Alsop, Pierre Larouche
Music by Mark Evin, Adam Brown, Shawny Petsche
Cast: Danielle Berthiaume, John M. Thomas, Mark Evin, Shelley Stevens, Elias C. Varoutsos, Paul Rogic, Glen Alexander and Joseph Ranger

2004/24 mins/Color/Stereo
1:33.1 Full Frame/Canada/NTSC Region 1

Review from Director's DVD-R

Matthew Saliba's first venture into filmmaking, THE MANIPULATOR AND THE SUBSERVIENT quickly became among some of my favorite short films. Being very stylish and truly surreal, his directorial style continues with his latest short film PANDORA'S PARADOX, which shows the evolution and growth of Saliba as a storyteller and filmmaker.

With films like these, it's hard to pigeonhole them into a straight and narrow plotline since they are completely open to individual interpretation. I watched this short now several times, and each time I have gotten different things from each viewing. Initially I was overwhelmed with the oddity of the film, it taking me on this completely oddball journey. Then after repeated viewings, I picked up hidden things within the story, which maybe only I found. That is the beauty of it all. You can take what you will from PANDORA'S PARADOX.

The film is as surreal as they get, with beautifully shot sequences and lighting with plenty reds and blues for Argento fans. This time around Ungodly makes better use of the camera (take notice of the kitchen/under the table right to left pan) finding different angles, and the camera explores the scenes more frequently, with less stationary shots than SUBSERVIENT.

The story is basically about a woman who gives birth to a giant toe. Once fed milk the toe hatches into the boy in the story, and the journey into mindfuck begins. PANDORA'S PARADOX has a whole s&m, torture, birth theme throughout the film, leaving me with my own clarification of the film. I felt with all the weird s&m imagery and the young boy witnessing this -- his mother, gasmask to face to penis, booster cables attached to her breasts, it was almost like a symbol of sexual and mental abuse toward the boy, resulting in him wanting to return to the womb to get away from it all. I don't want to delve much deeper than that into the storyline of the film, since I would end up giving an entire plot summary.

PANDORA'S PARADOX is a fast paced short film, at 24 minutes, you never once glance for the clock, no matter how confused, overwhelmed or intrigued you are. Saliba is a unique filmmaker of today, and no one right now is making the types of films he is. Not since David Lynch's early shorts have I been witnessed to such a different, truly dreamlike (or nightmarish) experience.

Review by Chris Mayo.