In ‘Mellifluous’, Alfonso Torre is the master of suspense. The story consists of a post-apocalyptic world, where nothing seems to be safe, where everything happens suddenly, and where if you are not careful, death will take you. As it turns out, death is everywhere, and no one can see it coming. One man is traveling through a desert. As he walks through this unsettling land, he meets a woman who set her camp, and who is waiting for her friends to come back. She does not know anything about them or where they could be. Whilst they talk, a powerful sound is heard and with that, chaos begins.

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This story is compelling as the threat is nowhere: we cannot see it, yet the people involved are afraid of the dangerous, unknown panic. Although this short looks impeccable in terms of composition, the story is not very clear, and the ‘allegorical’ part Alfonso Torre mentions in the film’s description is hard to determine. The short, however, gains points when it comes to building suspense, but may lack consistency, as the ending is elusive. It is hard to understand what really happened, but at the same time it won't bother you at all.

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This story reminded us of Dino Buzzati’s ‘The Tartar Steppe’, where Drogo, the main character is assigned to stay in an outpost and guard the city for the Tartar threat. As he is doing all he can to be attentive all the time, he loses track of his life. Buzzati creates in this splendid novel the greatest piece of suspense known to humanity, and Alfonso Torre seems to have taken notes from the aforementioned master. ‘Mellifluous’ has the perfect build-up, helped by each word and phrase, creating a net that gets you hooked and makes you realize in the end that you are completely absorbed in the narrative and can't let go of it.