The Wanderer

Well-known portrait photographer takes director's chair in order to a create visually impressive short film about death and the afterlife - from the Sydney Film Festival

The movie opens in crisp black and white with a man waking up in an open field. He smokes a cigarette as a mysterious woman wearing a borderline all black goth aesthetic shows up and offers to trade her life for his. He is dead. An immortal and cursed Morana (Alice Kremelberg) welcomes Hopper (Cody Kostro) to the afterlife as grungy rock chords play and anamorphic shots shape the field into an unfamiliar place. She is an immortal being made tired by both the years and by carrying a mysterious Cain-like curse. This is the moody underworld The Wanderer drops into.

Director Michael Lavine is best known as a photographer, especially as a music and portrait photographer. His most famous photos come from the premonitory death allusions in a photoshoot for The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death, released days after Biggie’s murder. He knows his way behind a camera, and no capable viewer of The Wanderer can doubt that in seriousness. The strong, deep blacks in the cinematography add gravitas to the 10-minute short, and the abundant anamorphic close-ups and medium close-ups define the uncomfortable world. Everything looks a little bit off kilter. Kremelberg and Kostro both look impeccable – good enough for a wedding day – and that makes Hopper’s day of death feel like the special day that it is. Her lavish dress clashes beautifully with the unkept field.

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