"Genesis" is Spanish film maker Nacho Cerda's second most well-known short film, following the "controversial" 1994 necrophilia oriented "Aftermath". Being a lover of sickening material, I liked "Aftermath" for it's unflinching depictions of post-mortem rape, though, I am also a lover of films that are more artfully conceptualized. Thus, I would have to call "Genesis" my favorite out of the two, in terms of the story.
The 30 minute film depicts a grieving sculptor whose wife was killed in a car accident. As he carefully chisels a stone likeness of her form, he begins to notice streams of what appears to be blood trickling from it. Throughout an unknown amount of days, pieces of the sculpture starting breaking away, revealing flesh beneath. Simultaneously, the sculptor's body begins gradually morphing into a hardening clay in an incredibly painful transformation of what you can only assume is a trade-off that the man had possibly hoped for...
"Genesis" is far less graphic and "outrageous" as "Aftermath" and, while I wouldn't call it a more 'well made' film, I would say "Genesis" is a much more haunting effort and beautifully captivating. No words are spoken. Only classical music is heard over the agonizingly tragic concept carried out. "Genesis" can best be described as a darkly moving "Twilight Zone" episode with a much more aesthetic connotation. See it!