If there is such a thing as a beautiful geek show, Genesis would be it. The approach is nothing new or novel (artist recreates a dearly departed loved one - the canvas/creation comes to life), but the way Cerdà's sells the narrative is. Once again, our director designs this wordless film as a feast of telling imagery. From the initial home movie footage to the final tableau, he provides a complete narrative. We learn who these characters are, what they meant to each other, what happened in the interim, and how the grief has altered at least one of their existences. The shots in the studio are stunning, filled with evocative statues that add their own emotional emphasis by their gestures, their physical arrangement, and the looks on their frozen faces. Even the overall stylized dream sequence where we witness the aftermath of the actual loss has its own important facets. It helps us to understand the bond between the parties, and helps to sell the supernatural situations that are going to occur.

That being said, Genesis does get a little derivative after a while. Once we learn what is happening (to avoid spoilers, lets just say is has something to do with trading places) Cerdà doesn't give us enough scenes of the transformation. Instead, everything happens gradually, in obvious hope that such slowness equates with seriousness and gravitas. And for the most part, the director is right. We begin to feel the heartache and the hope, welcoming the possible promise but fearing the price to be paid as well. By the end, when fates have been sealed and inevitabilities have played out, we do sense some emotional resonance. But with some further development of the material, Cerdà could have really grabbed us by our own inherent fears. After all, anyone whose ever lost a loved one would easily see themselves in the heroes place, and make the same metaphysical deal to bring said person back. While it is technically perfect, Genesis does suffer from a minor misstep when it comes to content. Fleshed out a little more fully and this would be one of the best short films in the often misunderstood medium.

After viewing the three films in this collection, it's shocking to learn that Cerdà has yet to helm an actual feature film (at least according to the IMDb, though his filmography on the DVD lists a possible project). He made a documentary entitled Coffins of Light in 2002, and helmed the "Las Olas" segment for a 2003 film entitled Europe 99euro-films2. Here is someone so skilled with a camera, able to evoke emotion without words or wasted moments that his name should be connected to every new, PG-13 brand of eerie horror film under development. He can deliver ambient, gruesome and spellbinding even when not relying on buckets of blood. But better yet, Cerdà realizes that horror is about creeps and context. He manages to make his spook shows utterly authentic by never once skimpy on the reasons and rationales for his character's actions. Instead of just giving us the glorification of violence or vice, this director digs down into the true heart of death's darkness. And he delivers the goods with surprisingly sensational skill.

As noted before, Cerdà has said that these films make up a trilogy, and it is easy to impose a kind of connective logic to all three offerings. Indeed, we can see a linear track from dying, to death, and then to the afterlife. It is also possible to envision the menacing morgue with its vile sexual secret at the center of each film. That indirect notion makes each movie that much more eerie. Indeed, we could focus fully on the corrupt coroner and argue that this is really his tale, told in three distinct versions. In The Awakening, we view how opportunity arrives at his soiled steel slab, and in Genesis, we can see how his actions create problems even for those who've passed on. Certainly Aftermath is all modus, but also it's meant as a challenge. If death is so strong, it should be able to survive even the most horrifying abuses. How we view the acts of our prurient pervert speaks to how successful the blow against mortality truly is.