THE SWEET HAND OF THE WHITE ROSE – A Short Film by Davide Melini

The Sweet Hand of the White Rose
Directed by: Davide Melini
Written by: Davide Melini
Starring: Carlos Bahos, Leocricia Sabán, Natasha Machuca

THE SWEET HAND OF THE WHITE ROSE

Directed by Davide Melini
Written by Davide Melini
Starring Carlos Bahos, Natasha Machuca and Leocricia Sabán

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z51eiYAJnoU[/youtube]

I’ve had the good fortune of watching the full short film ‘The Sweet Hand of the White Rose‘ by Davide Melini and  I can tell you this: Davide has a raw talent that was present in a few of the director’s of the 80’s and is destined to create a feature length film. It’s in his blood. The Sweet Hand of the White Rose is Davide’s latest short film and running at 16 minutes, the amount of detail that is put into it just blows my mind.

The film opens in a bar, with people drinking and listening to the live band on stage. The atmosphere created made me feel like I was a punter in that room, drinking, having a laugh, passively smoking and stinking of beer, swishing my hair around to the great music filling the room. Not that different from what I do on a weekend so I instantly connected with the film. The noise of the crowd, drinks being bought, a motorcycle being admired and a cracking performance by the brilliant band set the scene perfectly. An upbeat, eye-catching opening  soon descended into mystery and uneasiness when we spot Mark (Carlos Bahos) sat alone, smoking and clearly in despair. His girlfriend enters the bar and after an uncomfortable exchange of words, Carlos leaves.

Parallel to the story of Mark, we see a pretty, blonde haired young girl (Natasha Machuca), playing on the park. She receives a text off her mother asking her to come home, so the girl mounts her bicycle and pedals off home.

The paths of these two individuals cross and neither of them knew how fate would connect them.

Davide is very clever in the way he creates the films. He uses a variety of shots, from closeups to point of view and long distance to create a wholesome feeling that we are seeing the whole picture. He uses obstacles, such as people standing in the way, to help complete the scene. For instance in the club, we follow punters around and snoop between them and peep behind bar staff and inbetween legs. This is a clever way of shooting and is authentic. Davide’s use of light and sound is also to be admired. He clearly knows when and where to use them and to what effect. These senses play a big part in setting tension and later in the film the senses are all you have when little is going on in the way of visual. As I had hoped, Davide rose to the challenge and filled the scene completely with what it needed: light and sound. This created a world that I felt scared to be in. Any less of a director would not have approached the scene in the same way and completely ruined the effect and suspense it had created.

I have to applaud Davide and the techniques he uses. I really felt I was watching something special. It made me long for those films that oozed care and attention. You know the sort, the one’s that have long since waved us goodbye decades ago. But Davide reignited that flame… the one of real filmmaking. I truly hope someone stands up and gives the money that Davide and his team need and help him get recognised in the bigger film world, because this guy is the future of film. Believe me.

Davide produced The Sweet Hand of the White Rose with Fabel Aguilera on a budget of 2000 Euro and with their efforts, the film has received many accolades including:

Clearly Davide is doing well and I am sure he will continue to create amazing films that will capture the imagination of film buffs like myself.