As a creative person, I know that artistic inspiration comes very early on in life. It is an uninhibited instinct that an artist will follow blindly into the creative process. Artists are incomplete without their inspiration. Inspirations can come in any form. It can be found in nature, animals or even humans. But in order to find inspiration some artists do the unthinkable. For instance, conceptual artist Chris Burden realized the possibility of “dying for your art” when he allowed himself to be shot with a .22-caliber rifle at close range for his 1971 performance Shoot. You’ll find multiple examples like this when you turn the pages of history. You may agree with or without the methods, but one thing is certain that artists can’t operate without their inspiration. I know this is a long premise for the film Inspired, but it’s important for you to know how far artists can go to find their inspiration.

The film Inspired is a story about artist inspiration and how far they can go. As you can decipher from the title itself, the film tells about a painter’s life and her inspiration. In order to paint her masterpiece, she can do anything and can go to any stretch. She sees inspiration in everyone she meets. Then she brings them to her apartment and does the unthinkable. She calls the act as her inspiration. However, it’s not like Chris Burden’s “dying for your art”, but quite the opposite. However, the artist does face an opponent who is also an artist. This fight of one artist against another is not conventional, rather unusual. Regardless of all these, the film is ideal for almost everyone. Anyone can connect with the film no matter if they are an artist or in some other professions. So, you don’t have to worry whether you’ll be able to establish a connection. So, I think it is a mass film.

The film is a study of the artist’s psychology. People can do grave things to fulfill their ‘dreams’. Oftentimes, we see in the news that people even die to fulfill their dreams. The film questions that notion. The constant pressure on all of us to prove ourselves is the real reason behind this hustle-culture which leads us to do grave things. The artists are not also alien to this concept. The director wanted to convey this message, but in a veiled way. The director of the film, Nebal Shafi, has said that he has drawn inspiration for this story from his childhood movie preferences, particularly thrillers and horror films. In order to overcome his fear of horror films, he delved into gore films and found a love for unexpected plot twists. For your information, the film has a great twist at the end. Anyways, Nepal’s newfound influence pushed him into filmmaking, incorporating twists in his work. It was during his University days when he got introduced to psychological thriller TV shows with “Dexter” which influenced him very much. Later, movies like ‘Fight Club’, ‘Se7en’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’ helped him to get deeper into the world of films related to psychological thrillers.

The film is around 12 minutes long. It may be short but it will have a long-lasting impact on you. The two main characters in the film are like the two sides of the same coin. At the end of the film, you won’t be able to find the truth. Jane, the painter, is inspired by serial killers, while Aaron undergoes a transformation because of the circumstances. As mentioned earlier, this battle between the characters is the core of this film and delves into the emotional aspects of artistic inspiration.

Dylan Green and Clara Navaro who played the role of Aaron and Jane, respectively, are two excellent actors. The way Clara portrayed the role of a painter is really commendable. Nikhilesh Singh’s camera work is fresh and does justice to the film. Yifei Ma as the script supervisor ensured that the story remained tight and engaging. However, the aspect that is dear to me is the sound of the film. The music director, Mingyuan Luis’s impeccable hold on the subject makes the film an ensemble. Therefore, I would like to conclude my review with giving 4 stars out of 5 to the film. The main reason behind this high-rating is because of the twist at the end.