It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"Genesis" is a half-hour, 1998 short film written and directed by Spaniard Nacho Cerdà. I watched his film "Aftermath" before this as, according to IMDb, these two belong together. I have to say, "Genesis" is certainly the better of the two, so the director has shown some progress. Sadly, this is only because "Aftermath" is really a very very weak excuse for a film and not because his work here is good. Anyway, I am not too sure if it is a sequel anyway. The only real parallel I can see is that the main character is played by the same actor. Oh yeah and both films don't have any spoken dialog either. But the main character is working in other professions, has a wife in one and a dog in the other and there are just not really that many similarities I believe.This film's biggest strength is probably that it's nicely atmospheric. However, 30 minutes is simply too long for the action depicted in here. 15 max would have been fine. It's a bit of style over substance. A widower mourns the death of his wife and tries to create her out of clay. As you can maybe guess from the title, he is successful in the end after initially there was nothing but a bleeding sculpture. Well. I guess he was already on the right track there. This film got quite some awards recognition, but I wonder why. Cerdà has not been too prolific since 2009, but he has some upcoming projects listed in his body of work, so it seems he is still in the industry. Hopefully these will show further improvement. About this one here, not recommended.

Genesis (1998) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Another Spanish horror film from Nacho Cerda. A man accidentally kills his woman in a car wreck and to keep her memory alive he sculps a life size figure of her. Soon after the figure is complete, the thing starts to bleed and slowly comes to life. This one here isn't as good as the above film but it does have several nice moments and some very good direction. The gore factor isn't nearly as high but the film is just as effective.Available on DVD with the director's 1994 film Aftermath.

When discussing the older works of director Nacho Cerdà, people exclusively always refer to "Aftermath" and never mention "The Awakening" or "Genesis". Okay, admittedly "Aftermath" had the groundbreaking gore and dealt with genuinely shocking subject matter of necrophilia, but "Genesis" is a far superior film and easily one of the most haunting & visually impressive short films I ever saw. Nacho Cerdà here approaches an entirely different aspect of death, namely the difficult process of accepting the loss of a loved one and move on. Due to the melancholic and dramatic themes of this film, it naturally isn't as gross and repulsive as "Aftermath", but instead an intense, harrowing and unforgettable portrait of a man whose mourning process for his departed wife eventually turns against him. Pep Tosar, who also was in "Aftermath", plays a clearly heart-broken husband/artist trying to get over the death of his wife by creating a sculpture that looks exactly like her. Flashbacks and nightmarish sequences indicate, however, that the husband may have been responsible for the car accident his wife died in and the statue soon becomes of flesh and blood while the sculptor's own body turns to stone. The atmosphere of "Genesis" is uniquely grim & saddening, also because there's simply one (or maybe two) characters in the film, one filming location and absolutely no dialogs. Even though it's a terrific film, its playtime of 30 minutes is actually a good thing, because it's incredibly intense. Xavi Gimenez' camera-work is brilliant – there's no other way to put it – and sublimely tasteful and stylish despite the subject matter. Cerdà's direction is perfect, the music is enchanting and the overall ambiance of the film literally sent cold shivers down my spine. Undoubtedly the best project Nacho Cerdà ever achieved, and that includes "Aftermath" and "The Abandoned".

After watching AFTERMATH - I didn't know what to expect from Nacho Cerda and GENESIS. I personally did not like AFTERMATH, not due to it being "disgusting" or "shocking", but because I just didn't get the point. I feel that AFTERMATH has been severely over-hyped due to it's subject matter, and that while it was a beautifully shot film, it just didn't have anything going for it, in my opinion. Not so with GENESIS - although the subject matter was not nearly as controversial, and there is very little in the "gore" department, GENESIS is one of the most well put together, hauntingly beautiful films I've ever seen. Not only is the camera-work itself crisp and clear, but the score and sound FX are absolutely perfect. The short centers around a man (Pep Tosar from AFTERMATH)whose wife is killed in an auto accident. He lovingly recreates her in sculpture, and the sculpture begins to come alive. As the sculpture of his wife begins taking on flesh and blood, the sculptor himself begins to turn to stone. GENESIS is not a "horror" film in the strict sense of the word. It is more a tragic love story dealing with themes of life,love, loss and death. I really don't know what to say about it, other than it is a real gem of a film and shows what a great director Cerda can be if approaching the right subject matter. Even though I personally was not at all impressed with AFTERMATH, GENESIS on the other hand is a masterpiece of a short film and makes me really want to see what Cerda will do next. Highly recommended 9 1/2 out of 10