Reflective Encounters

“In the hustle and bustle of the modern business world, where grey office buildings and sharp suits abound, and where rational thinking ends and the “grindset” begins, it seems hard to slow down. In Jan-David Bolt’s Kafkaesque Phlegm the corporate middle managers of the world, by virtue of some cosmic punishment, are forced to (quite literally), dial back to a snail’s pace. It all starts when a businessman’s shoe meets a snail’s shell, reducing the creature to goo and his handkerchief to a sopping rag of snail guts. 

What follows is a marvel of comedic escalation, with the man’s every step coinciding with the death of a fresh snail. Key to the effectiveness of Bolt’s film is its immersive nature: featuring corporate-chic blue tinted colour grading, and an oppressive soundscape of shells cracking left and right. What also fascinates are the textural contrasts; between the smoothed soles of the businessman’s dress shoes, the snail’s remains that resemble a cracked egg and the rough asphalt of the ground. The existential fear Bolt eventually taps into is of a lack of productivity, as the great struggle the businessman faces is being late for work. Time is money – there’s no room to drag your feet or your entire body on the ground.”

— Matthew Chan