In Full Bloom
Drama, Short Films, 03-Jul-2019
The life of Cecile, an older Vietnamese hoarder, is upended when a black hole opens up in her home. Written and directed by Maegan Houang, “In Full Bloom” is an imaginative fantasy about grief and loneliness, told with rich, expressive visuals and spectacular production design (hoarding turned into a work of art). After the death of her husband, Cecile, is left to fend for herself. One day, she receives a package in the mail, a box of worms to help enrich the soil of a potted plant. But the worms begin to wander, and the tiny hole under Cecile’s chair begins to expand. The bigger it gets, the more it craves, and Cecile is left without recourse. All done with practical stop-motion effects (read more in our interview with Houang), it’s an impressive feat of surrealist world-building, that finds at its center a woman longing for new growth but haunted by an unexplainable force. Written and directed by Maegan Houang. Starring Kieu Chinh. D.P.: Christopher Ripley. Production Designer: Emmy Eves. Editor: Gus Spelman. Producers: Vanessa Elliott, John J. Lozada. Stop Motion Animator: Jason Whetzell. Composer: Robert Ouyang Rusli. Sound Design: Grant Meuers. VFX Supervisor: Matthew Waukhonen.