ashantibandol
Dec 17, 2022
“Fear is the only company I’ve ever had.”
Kyle Taino’s choice of elements subsided the low-budget - school film - lack of technicality hurdle that their production was facing. Using an iPhone camera and little-to-no dialogue being recorded by his FujiFilm XT20, his persistence in capturing the best shots didn’t stop him from stealing the show at the Handog Film Festival. “I am No Longer Here” received an overall 2-minute standing ovation during the festival.
The build-up keeps the viewer immersed as we follow Jakan Heisenberg, a troubled youngster, who scorches his way into his high school life with the burden of his trauma, which overtakes him from within. A narrative about Jakan and his potential love interest Julia, who we believed was gonna be such a wholesome viewing experience. Jakan then grew into a terrifying protagonist, a character about whom we were all worried. It was your typical school shooter story. The typical individual who faced an abusive environment. Buried by the thoughts of these that lead him into committing such an unforgivable crime. Julia, who I thought was an exception from his hysteria, shows how Jakan clearly was a person who showed no remorse.
The action scene was the epitome of Taino’s attempt at his mastery of the genre. Though he had little experience directing such dark films, he was able to express the gut-wrenching viewing experience of Jakan hunting down first his bullies and then his innocent classmates in their school setting. In the first scene, Jakan talked about how his fears left him weeping like prey, but who would’ve thought enclosing these to himself would turn him into a vile predator? Taking the lives of his 8 classmates, and of course, his own as well.
“I am no longer here,” as the critics would call it, is your typical school shooter story. But in my defense, it was actually worth going through the film in depth. With the thoughts of the hidden references from other films, Jakan mirroring Travis Bickle from before his hysteria, and the cameo characters from films that show the elements of loneliness, ultraviolence, and instability, because of their surroundings. The coloring shows how each moment grew darker for Jakan, how his bullies every day encompass his fear, as it grows and grows inside him. He then became, who he feared.