The Cillian Murphy-led short film from Severance director Aoife McArdle originally premiered at the Manchester International Film Festival in 2021.
The picture returned for a one-off screening at Aviva Studios on Friday, alongside a Q&A with screenwriter Max Porter and live music from composers Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National) and Jon Hopkins.
The short, filmed during Covid over a three-day period, follows Cillian Murphy, an everyman, as he traipses through low-lit streets reciting a series of confessionals and apologies.
Porter believes the film maintains its literary quality despite having morphed from page to screen. In many respects, All of This Unreal Time may have functioned better by remaining in its original format – despite the valiant efforts of Murphy, who excels in his powerful narration, and the supreme quality of McArdle’s camera.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that this Manchester-commissioned short lacks a strong enough foundation to warrant turning words into visual image.
“These apologies are only half-journeys. The whole distance is unpassable. I cannot travel”, narrates Murphy, staring out into rows of blurred colour streaking across the night. At its best, All of This Unreal Time peers out from behind the curtains of its jumbled poeticism and bares its face whole, imparting a poetry of such lucidity and intelligence that shorts of its ilk can scarcely compare.
At its worst, the project sadly veers towards the pretentious. The wordiness of its incessant dialogue drifts into ramblings that feel oddly specific to the everyman’s character or, as writers will know, Porter himself. By teetering with such unrestrained caution upon this knife’s edge, All of This Unreal Time exists within a sort of graveyard-ish limbo that attempts to balance universal truths with the personalities of its authors.
If the finished product appears unfocused in hindsight, the depth of its ambition is still to be commended, particularly in the context of its restricted creation due to Covid protocols.
Following the event, Porter signed copies of the film’s screenplay. This book, also titled All of This Unreal Time, is available for purchase online and in-stores, and contains a foreword from Cillian Murphy.
“There’s a certain musicality I require when I’m writing”, said Porter. “It’s an organic tension – that’s when I know I’m getting somewhere.”
The screenwriter made brief reference to another collaboration with Cillian Murphy, based on his novel Shy. This film will be released on Netflix but a date is yet to be announced.
The event concluded with a live performance from composers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, best known for their work with The National, and Jon Hopkins.
The show was complimented by a spoken word performance from Porter himself, who arrived onstage to read the audience a previously unheard poem atop synth-heavy live instrumentation.
Producer Mary Hickson said that the musicians were unable to join forces within a physical studio due to COVID restrictions, and resorted to sending each other digital files whilst scoring All of This Unreal Time.
The trio premiered new music inspired by the film, now able to collaborate in-person.
You can purchase Max Porter’s screenplay for All of This Unreal Time here.
Images provided by the Aviva Studios Media Library.
