What does the art of printmaking and a moral dilemma of fidelity or love have in common?
Not much at first glance, but that’s the question Traces seek to answer with metaphorical and ethic conflict-laden aplomb.
A printmaking teacher goes about his routine as an ex-student walks in, asking for help to rekindle lessons past for a new project.
The audience sees from both countenances and mannerisms that this isn’t any ordinary exchange, and the repercussions of an entangled love/ethics dilemma plays out.
Much like the elements required in creating a worthy artwork, the film fuses different but inter-connected layers of our protagonist’s conundrum to create an almost-esoteric look at how the tenets of love, relationships, and family are put to the test.
From well thought-out metaphors in a printmaking lesson to a climatic scene revealing the student’s motivations for returning, the end-artwork certainly impresses.