A Drop at a Time: Minimalist Storytelling Carrying A Profound Message

In the world of cinema, where post-apocalyptic genre is inundated with over-the-top dramatic scenarios, heavy-budgeted VFX and a thumping background score, writer-director Mazyar Mahan’s 7:15-minute long A Drop at a Time comes across as an unexpected surprise. A powerful, infallible story that is ingenious both, in its execution and subject matter, the short is worth every frame. A wordless story set against the backdrop of a draught-stricken, post-apocalyptic landscape, it traces the solitary journey of a woman defiant against all odds.

When cinematographer Amine Faali lets the camera sway between the vast, empty landscapes and intimate close-ups of our protagonist (Maryam Takalou), the message isn’t lost to the audience. This is a studied craft–a visual poetry, that is meant to cajole its audience into understanding the depths of the woman’s isolation in a barren world that is consuming her into nothingness. The deliberate close-ups of her strained hand as she carries the weight, the scorching heat and the barrenness of the land is a measured display of environmental harm we have caused. A decision that makes the film evocative and telling.

Add to that, the smart choice of incorporating an effective sound design (Ensieh Leyla Maleki), that highlights even the gravel of the earth, the footsteps splashing the muck (Foley artist – Mobina Latifi, Sound assistant – Hirad Alavifard); it adds a devastating effect to the plotline that goes on to highlight the juxtaposition of a sole woman’s fight against the harshness of the world around her. There is no hope, or very little left of it. The symbolic gesture of her hands cupping the water towards the end is a befitting tribute to the nurturer that she is, in her endeavour to let the last living tree survive. Takalou has a major responsibility, much like the character she plays. The film largely relies on her act, and so, every gesture, the defiant gait matters in creating the forlorn world of A Drop at a Time.

Mahan’s choice at eschewing the film of any dialogues or dramatic scenes forces its audience to immerse themselves in the world devoid of its lifeforce. The sensorial experience enforces the despair and dread that the protagonist carries and is vicariously felt by the audience too. A masterstroke in filmmaking, A Drop at a Time successfully presents the imminent climate and environment disaster that is less than a decade away. It is an audio-visual display of an exigence that requires collective effort in mitigating the disaster. The irony–a solitary journey of a woman becomes the essence that carries that message. Befitting, thought-provoking and intentionally arousing both, in fury and hope at how mankind has failed and yet nature offers absolution, with the slightest act of kindness, A Drop at a Time is an important film and couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

Watch A Drop at a Time Short Film Trailer