Resurrecting Vision: A Review of ‘The True Story of Christ’s Return!’
Chris Milewski has been a regular subject on Severed Cinema over the years. Many of his Italian and old school silent inspired shorts have been reviewed as well as an interview with the man (see interview with Chris Milewski here). I generally get a buzz from the man who almost out-Italians the golden era Italians. His short flicks are rich with vision and ideas. However, his last film, The City of Dunwich, as I stated wasn’t anything like his previous creations, but still had merit (see review of The City of Dunwich here).
This time ‘round, Chris has gone one man army style — everything is him and just him! The True Story of the Christ’s Return is a lot more experimental and thoughtful. The Chris of old has returned and risen like a gloomy phoenix from the flames!
We start with a collage of old religious pics — this is pure ‘70s style, soundtrack, and camera work. We begin at a riverbank. A narrator explains how (using a crappy echo) Christ was from space and his remains have laid buried… until now (in a nutshell, there’s much more to it than that).
Christ awakens and climbs from the sand accompanied by trippy music and camera zoom arounds that herald this. He strolls about in his jumper and jeans (no idea) looking really chilled out with everything. He sits in a graveyard heavy with atmosphere, hearing a voice. Chris presents us with a brilliant collection of shots of a church as the bells chime. Then Christ is sat in a ruined church reading, and feeling his way along a crucifix, hearing echoes of his past in his mind.
Suddenly a man with a knitted balaclava reminding me of one of the rapists in the comical, Rapist’s Rampage Roughie Collection that I reviewed many years ago (see review of Wet Wilderness here), home invades with a gun (bet Chris never imagined a comparison like that!). I won’t spoil the conclusion because it’s worth finding out what happens next without me ruining anything.
This short has a lot of depth. Chris Milewski has seriously planned and executed the shots plus angles of the scenes to layer on dreamy doom-laden material. He plays both Christ and the Billy burglar well (as per usual the credits are pseudonyms), however, overall, I kind of wish it has an extra five-minutes to really fatten out the concept which is altogether interesting.
Anyway, here’s a link to his YouTube channel where you’ll find many of his wonders: youtube.com/@FilmiracleProductions/
Directed by: Chris Milewski
Written by: Chris Milewski
Produced by: Chris Milewski
Edited by: Chris Milewski
Cinematography by: Chris Milewski
Cast: Chris Milewski
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Language: English
Runtime: 10 min
Studio: Filmiracle Productions
