Slow Moving Houses is a short film by Mischa Jakupcak, and it is playing at the New Jersey Film Festival on January 30th, 2022. The film opens with a young girl who comes across a man about to commit suicide by jumping off a building. Together, they go on a journey into his possible future; the young girl shows him all of the simple little moments in his life that will make it beautiful such as how many milk cartons he will drink in his lifetime, how many plants he will own, and all the people who will remember his 63rd birthday. She promises him that after their journey into his future, he can still jump off the building if he wants to.
In Slow Moving Houses, Jakupcak shows the simple beauty of life through the eyes of a child, allowing the audience to reflect on their own lives despite the individual obstacles they might have to overcome. By emphasizing a child’s perspective on life, the suicidal man is reminded how amazing life can be in enjoying its simple pleasures. By taking him on this journey, the young girl eventually deters him from taking his own life. The film uses live-action in front of a green screen to enhance the dreamscape of the man’s future that the young girl is taking him through. She takes him out of his reality where he sees his future homes, future lovers, and future birthdays.
The production of this film was simple yet elegantly child-like. The use of green screen and special effects allowed Jakupcak to make the film feel kind of cartoon-like, again highlighting the perspective of a child. The use of fog and the hanging props really aided in the immersion of the film’s story and its dream-like quality. The elements of time and space are also collapsed in this dream, as the pair easily travel from one place in the man’s future to another. The girl leads him up a ladder into this surreal world that contains elements of his future. Jakupcak shows this detachment from reality through the use of green screens and fog. The pair are then seen rowing a boat in the sky, another element of this dream world that’s not possible in earthly reality.
The young girl shows him all of the houses the man will live in throughout his life as they are floating in the sky and rotating slowly, tying in the title of the film. They then jump down and move into a different location in this realm of futuristic dreams- a body of water. They are also wearing different clothes in the water, possibly to emphasize the fluidity of life and of the dream world that they are currently in.
The film ends with the little girl sending the man back to reality on Earth as she returns to her home in the sky. When the man is once again standing on the edge of a building, he looks up to see a floating house, presumably the one the little girl lives in. The story then jumps into the future; as the little girl returns home, that man is in her home, revealing that she was his future daughter.
Slow Moving Houses is a reminder of the beauty of life. It allows the viewer to reflect on their own lives and find the simple joys in them. Especially during such trying times, it is beyond necessary to appreciate the small things in life that translate to something more grand and meaningful.
Here is Mischa Jakupcak’s Introduction to the screening of Slow Moving Houses at the Spring 2022 New Jersey Film Festival.
Slow Moving Houses screens at the Spring 2022 New Jersey Film Festival on January 30 as part of the Short Film Program! To buy tickets to see it click here.
The New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2022 will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 28 and February 20, 2022. As a result of COVID our Festival will be a virtual one again this Spring. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. More info is available here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2022.eventive.org/welcome
