Italian language film As in Heaven, So on Earth, might just be one of the most difficult films to describe at this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest. Told across two separate time periods, the year 1275 and our modern times from the year 2011 onwards, the film explores a series of disappearances and deaths and how they connect to a mysterious woman. Honestly, trying to unravel the finer points and intricacies of the story here necessitates a basement, cork-board, and string. It’s a lot to take in and is a movie that is going to need more than just one or two sittings to fully digest.
The story itself is fairly complex, but it is within the visual translation of that story that things get interesting. The entirety of the 1275 storyline is told via the medium of puppetry. The once thought lost art seems to be making a resurgence. It was only earlier this month that we were reviewing Frank & Zed, a film made entirely with puppets. Now we’re here discussing another puppet heavy project. This first portion of the film is stunningly realised and put together. The detail on the puppets is superb and Erba isn’t afraid to get messy or messed up when telling his story in this medium. Our characters in this part are a young woman, a monk, and an alchemist. The alchemist is running a series of experiments on the girl and the monk struggles between his loyalty to the alchemist and his need to help the girl.
The modern section, which spans a number of years, is told via the found footage of an investigative documentarian. It’s a collection of clips captured on professional cameras, go-pros, and phones that all weave together to try and explain a compelling and complex mystery. The two timelines play out simultaneously, Erba takes the viewer on a time travelling journey as they surf from one era to another and then back again. The painstaking work put into the puppetry is replicated here by Erba’s need to be creative with his found footage. There are lots of nifty like quirks worked in, a simple cracked phone screen distorting images, and a point-of-view dog cam being just two of the more standout instances. This is a filmmaker that has clearly studied the format in which he is working and doing his homework has helped push As in Heaven, So on Earth ahead of some of its peers.
It’s an interesting way to tell a story and the mixture of found footage and puppets will certainly capture attention. Erba’s decision to glue the two methods together is made even smarter when you consider that most people won’t sit through a film that is purely puppetry, and interest in found footage comes in peaks and troughs. By placing them both together Erba ensures that his film maintains interest, meaning that there really isn’t a dull moment. A mental puzzle and visual feast, As in Heaven, So on Earth is one of the most uniquely fabricated films in years.
As in Heaven, So on Earth
Summary
With As in Heaven, So on Earth, Italian filmmaker Francesco Erba has constructed one heck of an original way of storytelling.
As in Heaven, So on Earth was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021.
