FemmeFilmFest Review: Maegan Houang's in competition short In Full Bloom

Let’s discuss a hypothetical. Let’s say you consider yourself a “green thumb” of sorts. You have a plant you really want to grow, so you buy a few worms to loosen and aerate the soil. You receive these worms in the mail because everything is deliverable, put them into the plant, and then go to bed for the night. The next day, a giant hole has opened on the floor of your house and these worms are the culprits.

That’s the plot of Maegan Houang’s ethereal short film In Full Bloom. A mixture of wriggled animation and classic camerawork, Houang creates an atmosphere of confusion. I had no idea what I was watching, but boy was I interested.

In Full Bloom has one character, played with a bit of grace, and zero lines of dialogue. It’s ten minutes of animated worms, savvy special effects, and a plotline that feels linear despite its incomprehensible story. The worms continue to multiply, as do the audience’s assumptions about what is going on.

Houang’s film strikes it’s loudest chord with its final shot. Our lead’s house has been cleaned out, sucked into the black hole growing wider by the day in her floor. All of her possessions, including the framed photo of her assumedly dead husband, are gone, besides her plant that is now sprouting up like it got an eighth-grade growth spurt. She sits on the edge of the hole, thinks for a moment, then leaps in feet first.

Yes, she’s jumping in after all of her possessions, but she’s also leaving behind everything in the process. She doesn’t know what she’s heading into, and she certainly doesn’t expect her possessions to be waiting for her once she gets to the bottom, if there even is one. It’s a leap of courage, a leap of faith for a woman that feels one-track at this point in her life. She seems to be leaving her old life, one that looked bled dry of joy.

This was nothing short of fantastic. Houang has made something so full of imagery, confusion, difference, and thought that I can’t wait to see what she creates next. Her style feels distinct and lasting.

Watching Houang’s film is an experience, something all film should strive to be.