Artworks and objects exist within many spaces, but in He Thought He Died, actor and director Isiah Medina concerns himself with two. The first are hotel rooms. There, clandestine meeting take place and hands shake between buyers and dealers (Andlib Khan and Alexandre Galmard) who have no business possessing such artworks. The second is the museum itself, a place where Sam (Kelley Dong) tries to record such works for a project. There, a painter (Medina) tries to take back an artwork that’s his.
It feels reductive to write that He Thought He Died has a few elements that most viewers see in avant garde films but it’s true. A major element above others is the Bergmanesque dialogue, where Sam and a friend discuss art. And fair enough, no one goes to an experimental film to witness great acting, but the lack of competent acting is bothersome. Discussing things like retrospective and perspective need tons of work to make it sound insightful, or at base level, human.
I wrote about the one thing I dislike about He Thought He Died so I’ll write, then, about what saves it. even if medina can’t deliver concepts through dialogue, he does it through his keen visual eye. Through that ability, viewers can see themes from his earlier work. There’s a class consciousness here, factoring into the kind of things that people can access. He can build bridges within ideas that most people won’t catch, connecting the physical within the world of the subconscious.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: crime, Drama
- Release Date: 9/7/2023
- Directed by: Isiah Medina
- Starring: Isiah Medina, Kelley Dong
- Produced by: Andrei Pora, Isiah Medina, Kelley Dong
- Studio: Quantity Cinema
