Tale of the Deaf | Gothic Horror Short Film

Once upon a time, a mysterious stranger visits a tavern with his unusual barrel organ to give a scary musical performance to the beggars within.

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Tale of the Deaf
Directed by Philipp Yuryev
https://vimeo.com/user20999224

“A grimy, macabre fairy tale, director Philipp Yuryev’s Tale of the Deaf is one of the most visually stunning shorts I’ve seen in quite a while. In general, I’m not a “style over substance” curator, but, occasionally, I come across a film with such aesthetic verve that it’s hard not to bowled over.

Tale of the Deaf is just supremely well-crafted. It’s worth noting that I’m not just talking about pretty cinematography (with modern digital cameras, nice looking photography is pretty easy to come by nowadays). Rather, there’s a personality here that is just hard to ignore—a sense of directorial authorship where you can identify the creator’s inspirations (e.g. gothic horror, silent movies of the 1920s), but still very much tell it’s coming from a unique creative voice.

With its seedy and dirty tavern interior, it’s not a “pretty film” but it is a gorgeously rendered one, meticulously crafted from the shot compositions to the production design to the noir candlelit black and white lighting. As someone who has repeatedly ribbed on “unnecessary black and white” as a bad indie film trope, here’s an example of it being implemented correctly: a design choice that reflects the overall tone of the piece. The lighting is sharp and moody, the shadows seemingly forming their own color palette.

But, enough gushing about the technical panache, the storytelling is strong as well: a creepy oddity of a tale that combines elements of horror and fantasy. I won’t argue that the film could potentially move a bit quicker or that the plot itself travels in unexpected places (as soon as they introduce both a deaf protagonist and a creepy villain who uses a musical device for his nefarious ends, you can tell where the story is going). But, it’s still an engaging funhouse ride, bolstered by its aforementioned sense of aesthetics. The “soul-sucking” beat of the film is pure bravura filmmaking. Plus, I like that it takes the lead character’s inability to hear and turns it into a life-saving asset (ala Rob Savage’s Dawn of the Deaf). Sometimes those whom we least expect are the most powerful…

A Russian filmmaker, Yuryev already has an impressive cinematic resume despite his young age. In 2013, his short film The Song of the Mechanical Fish was in competition at Sundance (2013 stands out as a somewhat iconic year for shorts at Sundance). His feature film debut, The Whaler Boy, premiered in 2020 at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Venice Days Grand Prize. – S/W Curator Ivan Kander

Director of photography Mikhail Khasaya
Producer Anna Bokina
Creative producer Denis Kolesov
Executive producers Andrey Paukov
Elena Samoilova
Artem Tsaregorodtsev
Maria Yakovleva
Valery Kopytin
Nikolay Verstin
Arina Yezhova
Ravil Salikhov
Line producers Elena Panfilova, Yulia Volova
1st AD Daria Kostyuchenko
Production designer Alexandra Nikiforova
Costume designer Anna Kudevich
Head of HMU Christina Bityutskaya
Casting director Elena Chigvintseva
Editor Kirill Khandurin
Orginal music by: 433 Sound Agency Tim Aminov
Konstantin Poznekov
Music by:
Dale Cooper Quartet
Mia Outarde Bondon

Sound by Nikita Gankin

Production designer assistant Kapitolina Novakovskaya
Props master Alexander Lebedev
Set decorator Ilya Ashmarin
Set decorator assistants Georgy Osin
Sergey Andreev
Vladimir Krutov
Alexander Garan
Dmitry Parfenopolu
Yashar Shikhverdiev
Mikhail Kosyrev

Props master assistants
Olga Kudrya
Polina Tsupilo
Anna Charkina

Painter Vladimir Orlov

Storyboard artist Vladimir Sakhnov
Wardrobe assistant Boris Kukolkin
Wardrobe assistants Ksenia Alexandrova
Anastasia Boldyreva
Louise Allahverdyan
Makeup assistants Svetlana Lyubimova
Ekaterina Savina
Location managers Denis Khrapunov
Alexander Kalkaev
Production manager Andrey Pavlovsky
Runners Sergey Stadolnik
Dmitry Ovsyannikov
Gaffer Pavel Shevchenko
Key grip Vladislav Sorokin
Lighting Kirill Dmitriev
Mikhail Kozlov
Alexey Kostin

Reproduced on this channel with the permission of the filmmakers.