• Home
  • About Us
  • Submit Article
  • Contact Us
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023Earlybird Submission Open
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TVLive
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023Earlybird Submission Open
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TVLive
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
No Result
View All Result

The Screaming Worm of Tarshish: Retelling Of A Biblical Tale

Indie Shorts Mag Team by Indie Shorts Mag Team
10 Mar 2022
in Reviews
0
The Screaming Worm of Tarshish - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

This is a story of survival. A story of someone’s tumultuous journey from being a non-believer to an ardent advocate of the faith. But, above all else, it’s a humble attempt at addressing you, the audience directly in one of the oldest stories ever told.

The story of Jonah and the whale remains the setting of writer-director James Ristas’s The Screaming Worm of Tarshish (TSWOT). A 19:39-minute long narrative punctuated with allegories, slapstick humour and surprisingly melodious background score. For a film of such content, TSWOT is an interesting, experimental short that plays with traditional, old-school filmmaking style to regurgitate something novel.

The Screaming Worm of Tarshish - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Jonas (Kris Salvi) is in the middle of an audition or rehearsal, perhaps. His furious gestures draw both, chuckle and concern. Convincing in his act he maybe, but successful at the play, he certainly isn’t. As fate would have it, his play centres around a guy who believes in the apocalypse. And as he spews his lines, his delivery only punctured by the songless background number, Salvi regales us with his antics.

Enter Ristas as the mediator with whom Jonas engages in heated arguments, to comical fallouts. Note that the setting remains close to its source material.  For those unaware of the biblical lore, the story might seem a bit flighty, but that’s where Ristas introduces his dialogue cards, akin to intertitles. 

The Screaming Worm of Tarshish - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

What works in favour of TSWOT is the dramatisation. There’s a swift change in its colour palette, a sudden lull in its tracks and swift introduction to characters. The story barely slows in its pace as scenes escalate to a thinly veiled hysteria. All actors, particularly Salvi excel at their dialogue delivery. There’s the right punch and pause, however the performance remains over-the-top for the most part, which might work in select scenes.

The cinematography (Samuel Carl Cohen) plays with the quirkiness of the narrative and offers interesting shots to an otherwise silent film. Jim Landry, whose editing deserves credit for the steady pacing of TSWOT also helps elevate an otherwise cumbersome concept.

The film offers hope, even if flawed in its execution. And, Salvi and Shakhmuradova offer glimpses of their spark in the near 20-minutes of duration.

TSWOT carries the weight of its experimental execution, a rather novel take of blending traditional and contemporary filmmaking styles while paying homage to the early 20th  cinema. 

Watch The Screaming Worm of Tarshish Short Film Trailer

The Screaming Worm of Tarshish: Retelling Of A Biblical Tale
  • Direction
  • Cinematography
  • Screenplay
  • Editing
  • Music
3.3
Tags: FantasyFantasy Short Film ReviewReviewShort Film Reviews
Previous Post

Heart Failure: The Modern Blend Of Ready Vulnerability And Denial

Next Post

A Trillion Miles West Of Bradford: Love And Grief That Cuts Across Universes

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Related Posts

Vacation - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

Vacation: Making Do with Nothing, and Loving it

25th January 2023
La Leyenda del Sombrerón - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

La Leyenda del Sombrerón: Dream and Reality Merge into an Exitless Maze

23rd January 2023
Next Post
A Trillion Miles West Of Bradford - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

A Trillion Miles West Of Bradford: Love And Grief That Cuts Across Universes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sponsored

Advertise Here

Featured Post

Announcing Indie Shorts Mag Short Film Festival(ISMSFF) 2022

Announcing Indie Shorts Mag Short Film Festival(ISMSFF) 2022

  • Recent Reviews
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Youtube Vimeo

About Indie Shorts Mag

Indie Shorts Mag is a publishing agency that works within the ‘short film circuit’. We review short films, documentaries, music videos and web series, amongst others. We stand out amongst the short film review sites for being multi-diverse & global in our platform and reach.
Our team works tirelessly to help promote, publicize and market your short films that deserve the shout-out! Besides reviews, we host film festival news as it’s a known fact that the film festival buzz is unmissable and we ensure you aren’t left behind!
We aspire to form a niche for ourselves as the ‘short film magazine’ that remains the hub for filmmakers & their audience.

Popular Topics

  • Announcements
  • Articles
  • Crowdfunding
  • Editorial
  • Film Festival News
  • Film Festivals
  • India Edition
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Marketing
  • News
  • Online Premiere
  • Post-Production
  • Pre-Production
  • Reviews
  • Short Film
  • Short Film Competition
  • Short Film News
  • Tutorials
  • Web Series

Indie Shorts Mag on Instagram

Follow Us On Instagram

  • #ShortFilmReview: Vacation: If you don’t have the tropics, store-bought is fine. Read our review and watch the short film. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: La Leyenda del Sombrerón: The hunter of souls stands still, sure of prey. Read our review. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Chekhov
  • #ShortFilmReview: Silver Screen Suicide: Reel absorbs the real. Or is it the other way around? Read our review. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #WebSeriesReview: Secrets, Swipes and Lies: Two lives, and their many lies. Read our review and watch the series. Link in bio.

#WebSeries #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: A Clockwork Heart: A Classic Example Of Disney’s Precursors. 

Read our review & watch the short, link in bio.

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: Bittersweet: A Feel-Good Film To Instill Hope. 

Read our review & watch the short. Click on the link in our bio. 
 

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: Grizzly: An Explicit Critique Of Empty Tradition And Toxic Masculinity. 

Read our review & watch the short, link in bio. 
 

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: Dweller: Sci-Fi Reflecting The New Normal, And A Few Warnings For The Future. 

Read our review & watch the short, link in bio.

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms

© 2015-2023 Indie Shorts Mag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TV
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review

© 2015-2023 Indie Shorts Mag.