The entire world, or so it seems, remains at a standstill. 

The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has impacted our daily lives in ways big and small and life-changing and mind-altering. For Lawss-An-Je-Les writer and director Hassan Said, it has been a time of physical, emotional, and spiritual challenge that led to he and a group of filmmaker friends to construct what they are calling the "The COVID-19 International Film Festival." This film, a less than 4-minute experimental reflection that finds Said reflecting on this surreal time, is a powerful little piece of cinema shot entirely on an iPhone using practical lighting and more than a little madness. 

Indeed, the madness of it all seems to be at the heart of this exceptional work about a bustling city brought to its knees by a universe that exerts control on its entire existence. In isolation/quarantine since the beginning March, one can feel the madness in Said's imagery of a seemingly placid city and the madness of nature and humanity and a virus we are only beginning to understand. 

Beautifully photographed and accompanied by Bach's St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, Lawss-An-Je-Les is a short, memorable film about a period of time we can only hope will be short yet we already know will be memorable. 

For more information on the film, visit Said's website linked to in the credits and you can watch the film for yourself above this review. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic