Zero Illumination (2019)

Zero Illumination is the third film directed by Nastya Valentine. Its loose, epiphany-heavy plot centers on the personal dramas of a scientist whose breakup bender yields interesting results, dangerous choices, and powerful revelations, told mostly through thotty aphorisms by hallucinated projections of the shadow self. Inspired by the filmmaker's own breakups from 2012-2019, every shot in the narrative conveys a level of disrepair; the heightened mania of trying to fall asleep on acid or the tragedy of enjoying a david lunch of ~spaghett and depression~ in the bathtub. Zero Illumination's surreal atmosphere and dark, low-fi production illustrate a crossroads between the euphoria of dramatic tripadelia and the experience of heartbreak and desolation. Psychedelic agony permeates the film. At what point does the search for closure turn into a dimension beyond the human condition?