Without a single line of dialogue, Juggernaut manages to tell an engrossing story. The film also establishes an intriguing dark medieval fantasy world that left me wanting more. There’s certainly a lot potential in Daniele Ricci and Emanuele Ricci‘s film.
The short stars co-writer Eugenio Krilov as Ricker, a knight who emerges from the woods lugging an unknown object. The burden of this is evident from the close-up of his strained face and constant groans. A few minutes later, Ricker exhausts his body trying to pull the weight up the mountain. It’s evident that what he’s hauling appears to be a body wrapped in a sheet, with a sword over the chest. Most likely, it’s a fallen comrade. We’re never given the backstory or full details, but the fact a tear trickles from Ricker’s eye when he pauses for a moment and touches the covered body gives us enough information. This person obviously meant a lot to our weary protagonist.
From there, Ricker enters a mysterious castle and battles an undead knight and also encounters a supernatural force simply named The Lady (Adriana Papana), who has quite a gnarly face and make-up. Further, this film is really bolstered by the cinematography and score. The score creates a constant sense of dread. Both of these elements succeed at establishing the film’s grim tone and mood, leading to a rather heartbreaking ending.
I would love to see this film turned into a feature-length. This world deserves to be explored more, as does Ricker’s backstory. We meet him when he’s already lost someone dear to him, but it’s unclear where he’s coming from and where he intends to go. Additionally, this dark world likely has more creatures worth introducing. Juggernaut feels like a tease of a potentially much broader world. Yet, what’s here is a great representation of visual storytelling and a strong performance Krilov, who doesn’t utter a single word.
