“Blurred Vision” by Anna Shapiro
Anna Shapiro, Derailed. A Visionary Statement
Choice of Story.
I was always passionate about images and stories that lie between reality and unreality. What if what we are looking at is not what it seems to be? That’s why I’ve always been interested in the thriller or horror genre, particularly in terms of visual decisions showing the transition or manifestation of the irrational in the real world.



So, I was looking for a short story to film and show my vision. A story with something surreal in it. I chose Stephen King’s “Willa” for its exploration of the in-between state of life and death, trying to imagine how it might feel – especially if someone refuses to accept what is happening. Another theme that resonated with me was love. How fragile love can become when faced with routine mutual prejudice, and yet, at the same time, love is the only guide between life and death that I can imagine.


There was also a social aspect: I realized that King’s passengers at the train station are a clear metaphor for Russian society of that time – they do not want to accept reality, even if it leads to a total “black hole,” and they are hostile toward those who try to understand what’s really happening. (How sadly right I turned out to be. And I am, of course, not the only one.)


Visual Concept and Atmosphere.
In terms of the overall visual concept, I wanted to create a sense of “blurred vision.” That’s why the goal was to make the image almost monochromatic physically, rather than through color grading (using muted tones for the characters’ clothing and the objects in the frame). I wanted it to be unclear whether everything was monochromatic because it’s a dark winter evening at a small station, or—as it becomes clear in the finale – because it’s a non-place, a liminal space after death, where there are no longer any vivid colors or sharp objects or buildings.
I wanted to show that everything the characters see at the beginning – the platform, the fences, the lamp – is seen through their residual imagination, that these things don’t really exist. And in the finale, when Willa insists that the passengers acknowledge that they are all actually dead, this imaginary station starts to dissolve and reveal its real appearance. In reality, it’s an abandoned station with broken structures, snow-covered tracks where no trains run anymore, and so on.





Color only appears in the club scene, where the living people are present. I intentionally tried to make it warm-toned, creating an almost hot, loud atmosphere that contrasts with the cold world of the station.


Themes and Metaphors.
It was essential to localize the story within Russian reality, which, in my opinion, was done organically. In Russia, there are many such semi-abandoned stations, and suburban areas are dimly lit. I also wanted to find a station with architecture that seemed stuck between different eras. The station in the film reflects this – it feels either like it’s from the early 20th century or a stylization of it. It’s impossible to determine when it was built or whether it’s still relevant now. This helps create an atmosphere of timelessness.
At the same time, modern Russia also has nightclubs of this “timeless” Western style. I wasn’t looking for a contemporary, luxurious high-tech club, but rather a slightly provincial, yet very “human” club, almost with the smell of spilled beer and sweat. This timelessness helped me gradually guide the audience toward understanding who the main characters really are and the situation they are in, without revealing the story too quickly.




When, in the finale, the characters return to the club, having already accepted that they are dead and exist more in their memories of the living world, the club looks different. We see it through the perspective of the other side of reality, and thus, it also becomes empty and almost monochromatic. The reflections of flashlights in the club windows, as Willa and David* dance, represent the image of candles on their graves.


*(Mila and Yan in the film. I gave them these adapted names so they would sound both Russian and Western at the same time.)



I didn’t want this film, despite its generally sad emotional tone, to have just one note. In the dialogues and situations, I tried to add irony. Based on this, I also gave the actors the task of avoiding “playing the dead” and continuing to live out their characters’ whims, desires, and arguments.
The climactic scene of acknowledging that all the passengers had died in a derailed train is followed by a scene I wanted to make lyrical, a kind of light in a swampy mist. There is no such scene in the original Stephen King’s story – I added it to emphasize the theme of hope for eternal life, which is granted by love, a love that doesn’t end after death. This is reflected in the story arc of the main characters and their ending. I wrote a line for Willa: “Love doesn’t end if we don’t see each other,” which remains true for me to this day.


In the finale, Willa slowly fades away from David’s embrace. I wanted this scene to be intentionally beautiful, perhaps haunting and sad, but at the same time carrying a sense of light and tenderness.



Additional Notes
Casting
For casting, the goal was to find actors who were as thin as possible and had faces with a certain strangeness—this strangeness would distinguish the passenger characters from the living ones. The most striking actor, in my opinion, was the character of the “guide between the living and the dead,” who ensures that the characters find their own way without imposing it on one another. He was played by actor Igor Savochkin, a remarkable, subtle, and wise performer—it was a great honor for me that he agreed to this role. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2021.


Music
The same principle was applied to the music: minimalism for the passengers’ world, loud and vibrant music for the living world in the club. In the minimalist electronic score (by composer Oleg Troyanovsky), there are sounds reminiscent of technological noise, almost like background interference from the scene, but at the same time with a quality that makes them feel distant, as if receding into oblivion.
In the final dance scene, the arrangement of the musical composition (by composer Ivan Balandin), includes sounds reminiscent of church bells.