Muse

Josh Cox’s Muse sticks in the mind after seeing it. It’s antiquated and dream-like visual pop, blends and fades. Styles collide as Cox’s camera switches between a 70s New York vibe and a protracted and abstract, silent film composition; thus, this meditative and lustfully infused tone poem saunters like a brief and incredible specter around the nocturnal city.

Mateo Correa is a passionately irrational artist whose entire life and ability to create and deliver his artistic expression all hinge on the quality of his muse. So, aggravated and impatient to shatter the stultifying malaise in which he currently lives, he skulks about the dark streets, searching, hungry to find those eyes, those lips, and the soul which lies beneath, to fuel his desire, with the power to inspire.

Screenshot

“…searching, hungry to find those eyes, those lips, and the soul which lies beneath…”

In vain, he dances from one prospective muse to the next, gorging on their aura and energy, only to be left feeling unsatisfied, thus quickly moving on. This is, of course, until our artist locates his prize, depicted as a veiled and pure apparition played with silent grace by Diego Mazzaferro. But his adventuring has rendered the artist curious but cautious. He abandons his direct approach and tails the symbol fixture of his infatuation off into the night.

With Muse, Josh Cox is made a heavily stylistic film that’s as much about the search for expression as it is finding that which lights our fire. Personally, and professionally, we all have something or someone that gives us the freedom to take bold chances and endure difficult choices. These muses are the greatness behind the artists we know today as masters. This renders Muse a work of both beauty and profound meaning in that aspect.