“What if I, too, positioned myself behind the curtains or on the sofa in such a manner that makes my home cinematic, which subsequently makes my life cinematic?”

In every crevice of the mind, in every heart that roams free with joy and nostalgia, there are those specific places that we can remember; places that hold our deepest memories, emotions, wants, fears, desires, etc. But what about those spaces that slowly creep up on you overtime? The ones that seem trivial and mundane at first, yet, over time, slowly expand into the back of your mind. Simi Abe’s Home Movie tends to deal with the latter. Written, directed + edited by and starring Abe, it’s a testament to a newer living space and how it manages to glisten within the confines of a camera. The way a stack of cardboard boxes is arranged, sunlight from outside reflecting into the interiors, the noises coming from the streets making their way into the foreground; all these elements make up a broad canvas of the way we routinely live and how the different habitats that surround us make up who we are. Abe inhabits these interiors in a way reminiscent of a more modern approach to a baroque painting. The usage of both the clip montage and narration give off the sense of a documentary rather than a narrative feature. After all, any one of us can find beauty and solace within our natural settings.





(written by Diego Garcia; cover by Vu Nhat Nguyen)