REVIEW: ICE BREATH (SHORT) ★★★★
ICE BREATH (43 min.) is directed, produced, edited and filmed by Romanian filmmaker and photographer Leonard Gabriel Alecu and filmed by the coast of Greenland between 2019-2024. This artistic and experimental film – not a short film neither a feature film – but something in-between is stunningly shot on Red Helium 8K camera and kept entirely in deep and dramatic monochrome colors. In all honesty I can say that I’ve never seen something quite like this, neither have I seen Greenland portrayed like this before. It’s absolutely gorgeous to look at and it’s literally begging for a bigger screen – preferably the biggest screen you can find, suitable for an outdoor screening as well feeling the cool of the night surrounding everyone watching while a mild breeze is sweeping the audience.
Watching ICE BRATH is a meditative experience and requires another state of mind than watching traditional films. This film might not be for everyone’s taste, though I’m sure most people can appreciate the stunning look of the majestic ice mountains as well as understand the underlying seriousness of climate change and its effects on Greenland and The North Pole as a whole.
The intricate balance of Mother Nature is subject to major changes even when only minor fluctuations in temperature is occurring due to global warming and ICE BREATH (the title itself pointing to the ice bergs as being living creatures) combines the beauty of nature with the increasing meltdown of these once unwavering rocksteady ice mountains and you can’t help the feeling of concern when reflecting upon the impact of climate change while watching this film - and with a duration time that clocks in at 43 minutes there’s plenty of time to ponder about the human interaction with our delicate nature.
The whole ordeal is accompanied by Grammy Award-winning classical piece “Become Ocean” composed by John Luther Adams. A haunting, yet beautiful composition perfectly matched with ICE BREATH as it underlines the immediate effect that global warming has on ice – it becomes water.
In spite of all the praises above one could argue the runtime might be a tat too long for most people as the film walks a fine line between pure visual and musical bliss to a borderline tedious experience. It really all comes down to the individual mindset of the viewer the day of watching. While some films have the ability to pull you in no matter what state of mind you’re in, ICE BREATH is something you choose to watch on your own behalf - when calmness has finally found you. You must be ready.
On a final note, one must commend the uncompromising nature of Leonard Alecu’s work and the courage, stamina and creative tenacity that went into the making of this film. Creating a film project is a daunting task for most people, but seldomly I’ve seen such creative courage while filming in such hostile and ruthless circumstances, but luckily for the world of experimental films, art house cinema and lovers of nature films ICE BREATH was finally finished and I’m very happy for that fact.
