In 'You Are Special', Ukrainian director Ilya Noyabrev creates a heart-rending, heartwarming miniature on memory, longing, and the delicate means by which meaning is returned to a life that has been made to believe that it has no miracles left in it. Narrated with the plodding rhythm of a lullaby, the emotional lucidity of a secret, the short film is grounded through a heartrending turn by Oleksiy Zubkov, whose rendition of the protagonist makes the film something to be remembered without a whisper.
The plot revolves around an old Steinway piano, an item that, in the hands of a lesser director, could have been turned into a mere icon. But Noyabrev breathes life, history and mystery into it. We get to know, through the childhood dreams of the hero, that its white keys are supposed to be composed of elephant tusks; out of this little story grows a lifelong interest in the gray giants, those animals which come to represent innocence, hope and the purity of the love of the parent. His lullaby by his mother with its "You are special"refrain, floating like a loved ghost throughout the movie, turns into a source of comfort and curse when the boy is developing into a disappointed and lonely man.
At this point, the performance of Zubkov stands out. He does not beat the loneliness about; but his melancholy sneaks round the corners: unfinished movements, prolonged pausings, gawks at vacant chambers. His scenes with the Steinway can almost be described as holy when it appears that the piano is the only one that has recollections of a life that never came to happen as it was intended. The final unveiling of the character is all the more heart-breaking given the restrained nature of the expressiveness with which Zubkov portrays it.
Noyabrev brings his film to a bitter but gracious end. Life grows dark in the hero, and the last events are not sorrowful but are full of acknowledgment. He is aware of someone who will take his inheritance, his memories, his music, his Steinway, for the first time. It is something bestowed not by blood but by mutual understanding.
'You Are Special' is a short film that does not leave the scene quickly. It is a reflection on the resonance of childhood mythicism in adulthood and the way a connection, whether it is in the most unlikely situations, can give meaning to a life that has lost its purpose, as seen through its visual austerity, emotional complexity and anchored by the magnificent, understated performance of Oleksiy Zubkov.
It is a short film that will stick, one that softly urges every soul (no matter how worn out) to hold on to something to pass on.
Written by Vlad A.G