The internet proves yet again what a fantastic tool it is. Today marks my first international offering as far as independent films submitted to RogueCinema go, after being invited to give a review for Davide Melini's short film The Puzzle. Italy is a country known for its cinematic offerings and has provided an old washed up horror geek such as myself many, many hours of entertainment - so I was excited to see what Mr. Melini would be delving into. His short works as a crossbreed of a cinematic experiment between intense style and wrought tension. Two things that work ever so well together. Like chocolate and peanut butter, only with more pathos and self destruction! The short has a pretty straightfoward narrative, but the real focus of the short is simply the brilliant visual direction it takes as it carries the audience through this strange nightmarish landscape. If you're not interested at this point, well go check your pulse. This is the sort of stuff that draws me to cinema as an artistic form of expression.

The film can be found on youtube (link provided at the end of this review) so it's easily accessible for anyone reading this and at a simple four minutes in length you really have no reason not to sit down and enjoy the short! A surreal and nightmarish vehicle to demonstrate Melini's apparent gifts as a highly visual filmmaker. His short inspires visions of an early Dario Argento (and I even found myself reminded of Nacho Cerda as well) in terms of lighting an atmosphere but with a mix of the fast paced and hyper kinetic style of something like that of David Fincher in Fight Club. The lightning quick editing and the lurid lighting create a film based in tense horror and impending doom. Melini has a fantastic eye for the visual and takes command of his audience from the start and shows a great deal of promise in what could be as his career begins to take off. With his film being shown in the finals in 11 international festivals so far, I can see this young man doing great things with his plethora of natural talent. Filmmakers who can command their visual FX and create beautiful compositions such as in this film are the future of cinema in my opinion. I hold hope that Mr. Melini can continue to deliver his own unique vision and I have high expectations of him. You can see the short film here and you can read more about Davide Melini himself here.