In A Bear Remembers, directing duo Zhang & Knight craft a lyrical meditation on myth and memory, transforming a quiet English village into a landscape haunted by echoes of the past. Fresh from wins at Clermont-Ferrand and Aspen Shortsfest, the film reframes folklore not as distant fantasy but as a living, breathing presence woven into generational consciousness.
Set against mist-shrouded hills, the story follows Peter (Lewis Cornay), a curious boy disturbed by a strange metallic ringing that reverberates through the valley. His search for the source draws him to Ebba (Anna Calder-Marshall), an elderly woman whose childhood memory of a bear spirit resurfaces with startling immediacy. What unfolds is an enigmatic tale of wonder, unease and a spectral bear.
With dreamlike imagery and a haunting, melancholic undertone, A Bear Remembers is as poetic as it is unsettling. Shot with painterly restraint, the film captures rolling hills and vast landscapes as if they were otherworldly, often reminiscent of the folklorish artworks of Marcel Dzama. Equally striking is the sound design. The metallic ringing threads itself through the narrative as a recurring motif, fusing with the wind and moments of silence to create a soundscape that is every bit as evocative and immersive as its visuals.
A Bear Remembers is as poetic as it is unsettling
Striking and emotionally layered, the short lingers not through spectacle but through suggestion. Its deliberate ambiguity may frustrate some viewers, yet it’s precisely that mystery which grants the film its magnetic power. Ultimately, A Bear Remembers is a beautiful, disquieting contemplation of our relationship with the past, one that firmly establishes Zhang & Knight as bold, distinctive voices in contemporary cinema.
Striking and emotionally layered
Brian Cotter
★★★★★
