How to Disappear Completely

In the opening shot, the camera glides over the roofs of the village: a patchwork of corrugated iron, all jumbled up, oppressive. No wonder the protagonist of How to Disappear Completely wants to get out of here. Not because she suffers from her mother’s reciting of the Bible or from her drunken, layabout father, but simply because she can imagine another world. And hence she thinks of an escape.
The experimental films of Raya Martin have occasionally been described as ‘visual LSD trips’. Here, he sticks to a more realistic style, yet nevertheless allows dream and reality to mingle effortlessly. He juxtaposes horror à la The Blair Witch Project with documentary-like scenes. The colourful totality is held together by a fantastic electro soundscape, both light and alarming at the same time.
Who eventually disappears or whether anybody really does so is not the point. Martin is not a storyteller. He opens up emotional and cognitive registers.

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