Elektra is a pop group formed by triplets Sara, Cleo and Aracne who raise to world stardom quickly, becoming international celebrities. When they get sick, infected by a mysterious virus, they have to retire to have surgery on their vocal cords. They reappear a year later, but their performance style, their songs and they very appearance have completely changed, and the former pop group is no longer recognizable. After their controversial tour they decide to retire, and offer a last performance on TV, to be shown around the world. That is when the nightmare starts.
The story is just fantastic. The way the Greek Myth has been revamped, still being recognisable and horrific is incredible - Brilliant! The drawing, in colour and BW, but especially the latter, is just fantastic, very powerful, and detailed, with a great use of the chiaroscuro and ink use. The work of a virtuoso drawer. The movie is mostly a sequence of still drawings with some animated parts, the coloured ones. There must be reason why the director did not made the whole movie in motion animation (economic reasons? lack of background in animation? an artistic reason?), but the film still works and left me in awe.
I love non-linear stories, but I think the director has chosen the wrong narrative for this story, as the movie starts in the present and tells most of it in a flashback. The story is so good and powerful that a linear story from the past to the present would have been much more surprising, horrific, shocking and mysterious. Starting from the end does not improve the result of the story at all. Perhaps it works on paper, but not as much on film. At least to me. It is excusable, though, as Sanz is a Comics artist not a proper animator. Still his work is impressive, as well as the story, tempo and suspense of this film, which are great, as well as the ending.
One of the best short films I have seen this year.
The film can be watched on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oir5N8mqXaE&feature=colike
The author's website deserves a visit: http://salvadorsanz.blogspot.com/
