Some time ago someone asked us what the policy for weird movies is, and we answered on the spot that ‘the weirdest the better’. ‘Omphaloskepsis’ deals with a strange matter – belly buttons, not in the simple birth-related way, but in a more fetish-for-connoisseurs way. While we laughed at first, on a second view a perfect silence occurred, a silence that couldn’t be disturbed by anything.

 

This short definitely has the ‘creep factor’ pushed to the edge, making it hilarious at times, but with one definite quality – a stripped narrative that cannot be reproduced in any other way. One can see with the naked eye how well this short is made in terms of the technicalities: the cinematography is spot on, the editing has a little bit of edge to make it stand out, the sound editing is neat, and the story seems like a piece from a book of Daniil Harms, the Russian absurdist writer.

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The ‘WTF’ category we may find in the genre section is the best description for this movie. One thing that spoke to us was one of the last shots when the doctors can see what appears to be a whole universe in that woman’s womb. There is a powerful metaphor about the ‘universe within the womb’ being the whole thing a fetus can see, and the whole world until he or she comes into this world. Basically, the world within is the place of constant wellbeing, of no danger, no bad vibes... in other words, the perfect state. Will Berry’s short has the potential to make you drunk without drinking, to make you high without smoking, and most importantly, to make you understand the world without even leaving your safe zone. A bizarre experiment that may shock and please you at the same time!

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Written by Vlad A. G