The short film – Practices from beyond represents a mixture of a silent film, animation and live action film. Completely comic from the very beginning, with an original “abomination” idea. This experimental film represents how the afterlife would look like if it was controlled by bureaucracy. The choice to make the video black and white was a great decision because it gave the more sinister look to hell but still it preserved the comical tone.
Madness (Francesco Santoro), a sinful man and a killer comes in front of the infernal chairman (Raffaele Santoro), the head of the corporation “Beyond”. Infernal chairman knowing that the amount of souls gained by his corporation is decreasing considering other companies he decides to use Madness to commit more bad deeds by sending him to trick an old dying lady into committing her soul to his company. That is the time where God is getting involved.
Overall, this film represents an upside-down image of the world we live in. Big corporations are influencing our lives whether we like it or not. We are not even conscious about it, as they are silently consuming our possessions and attacking our mind by commercials that will soon start jumping out even from a garbage can. Some of the short films posses an endless possibilities of comprehension. This one could possibly have more than three ways of understanding it, but that is for the public to figure out. First way of understanding it is direct, as a short film purely created for fun and entertainment of the watcher. Second one could be the already mentioned one, as a mirror picture of the world of capitalism we live in. An absurd and soulless machine without simplest emotions that yet cannot survive without souls. Sad but true. Third way of understanding this short film would be philosophical and religious. After we die we all go in front of the imagined “judge” that will decide, based on our actions while we were alive, whether we go to hell or heaven. Maybe indeed some of us would get a “second chance” just like Madness and get a task to fulfill in order to redeem for his sins and “earn salvation”. If that indeed happens, what if we are indeed tricked into doing someone’s dirty deed, just like poor Madness, the professional food poisoner. Possibilities of philosophical talk is endless, and it is least probable that this film is philosophical in its nature, but for the people that tend to overthink it surely is completely philosophical in its nature.
Acting was good, highly suitable for the needs of the film, that was directed (Francesco Santoro) in the best possible way, considering the experimental genre.
The part that will be most liked by the public is the ending. It is one of a kind and highly comical. Surely this short film will not be of those that you immediately forget after you finish watching it, it will be stuck in your head and it will make you laugh for days.