Frontier Shorts

"Uten Tittel" is both beautifully stylized and filmically unique employing a smooth montage style which lets the film flow, its story unfolding gracefully. The shots are very creative. Though they are stills, the shots are not static or one-dimensional. For example, in one shot, a few isolated elements faintly drift through curtains in the background while the rest of the frame is still. The next shot is of the same scene viewed from a different angle creating spatial dimensions and allowing the same elements to convey a bit more seen in a different way. Breien also conveys movement through still-frame shots. The camera scans a line of people in different stages of the same activity - some turning to leave, some facing the camera, some walking away, etc.

Breien creates an air of suspense from the beginning, opening with shots of people who have gotten out of their cars in the middle of the street to stare confusedly at the sky. The phenomenon is finally revealed to be hundreds of black balloons floating ominously over the city. The image creates an unsettling tone as it offers no explanation for why this is happening. The balloons eventually deflate and fall to ground, each, upon inspection, bearing a name attached to it. Spectators of the event begin to examine each balloon and decide to bury each one in the snow.

Breien explained after the film that had been of an existent person who died innocently as victims of war and hate crimes across the globe. That the the circumstances of each death were completely unrelated to another serves to highlight Breien's point. It's about the senselessness of people killing people in general, not localized to one event.

By leaving out the particulars of each death and representing all the victims uniformly as black balloons, Breien removes prejudices which some would want to use to justify as a death. This compels one to examine the situation as simply life, and ending of life.

Breien displays a mastery of filmic aesthetics while delvering a powerful message with a social conscience.