Review - Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa
Creepy and mythic, Cyril Pedrosa’s “Three Shadows” follows a family to the end of its greatest fear, examining what a parent will do for a child, while managing to steer the story away from a foreboding gloom that could overtake it and transforming it into a fable.
The appearance of three dark horsemen on a hillside upsets the idylls of life for a mother, father and son. Both parents deal with these manifestations in their own ways, seeking both frightening counsel and unsure flight from the problem. The father’s solution sends he and the son on a treacherous journey from home on a boat that is filled with passengers who pack the decks and nooks and crannies like scared insects, overseen by a corrupt captain and his associate, an amoral slave trader who attempts to befriend the father.
The incidents on the sea journey are merely a portion of the odyssey that has engulfed the father and son as they try to outrun the mysterious trio, but for Pedrosa, this is not the story of a chase, but of a transformation. Filled with mysteries to be solved, Pedrosa stays with you far past the logical end, guiding the reader through a range of emotions as each layer is peeled away.
The most amazing aspect of Pedrosa’s storytelling is his rich understanding that the family are just three people in an entire world — with each page, hundreds of stories are hinted at, little snippets of every person’s journey is eavesdropped upon and, by the end of the book, a ledger of happiness and grief has been compiled through the interactions of the father and son with everything that happens around them.
By doing this, Pedrosa is able to reveal the personal fears inherent in the family’s situation while giving it a context, one that ultimately leads to the conclusion. Once the three shadows are revealed and the nature of the universe is accepted, it is left to the family to be a part of the world that has unfolded around them, rather than apart from it. Life itself is an entity made of many parts and they, as a segment of this creature, must play their part in its continuance.
Pedrosa’s tale is reminiscent of certain films of Ingmar Bergman, like “The Seventh Seal” or “The Virgin Spring,” as well as Italo Calvino’s rich fairy tale reimagings like “The Baron in the Trees” and “The Cloven Viscount,” and every bit as lovely and profound as any of those. Pedrosa is able to mix the dark allegory of his writing with an astounding visual skill that is able to utilize various strengths depending on the scene. Pedrosa’s work is at times light and cartoonish, with springy black lines giving motion to his figures and his backgrounds — other moments, it is stark and black, sometimes sketchy, sometimes muddy, often vague and always pounding you down with heavy emotion. It’s a visual tour de force by a former Disney animator and certainly a sign of further great things to come from Pedrosa.
Recent Comments