"Segments of Jonah" is constructed as a 4-part sci-fi series, based on the Biblical story of Jonah. This first two episodes tell the story of a man named Jonah, who is trying to get over some childhood memories, mostly related to child abuse, which leads to other sensitive subjects like revenge, love and faith.

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The film starts very abruptly being set in a bizarre room where Jonah is pursued to answer the questions of a strange detective. Every question is somehow introduced in the film as another chapter, but the development of the story can still raise some question coming from the audience. In an attempt to figure what is the origin of Jonah’s madness, we’re introduced in the backstory that led to his pain, starting from philosophical questions to unsolved mysteries.

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The whole story is tormented by guilt and fear, being very complex at the beginning and getting even more complicated and multilayered throughout the film, always creating new mysteries. Inspired by surrealist works – especially David Cronenberg’s particular style, the director aims to create a certain perplexing atmosphere, introducing the most bizarre story you’re ever going to watch.

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The creator is letting his imagination guide him and he doesn’t bother using as many techniques as the sci-fi genre requires, in order to develop an interesting story and give the scenes the flow that he wants. The ideas seem to never find an ending while Tommy Graef is in the process of creating and this can be seen in every detail of his work. Anyhow, his film definitely stands out from the crowd, as it doesn’t look like any other experimental films you’ve seen before. But, thanks to his odd combination of flashback footage, 3D animation, stop-motion, live action, figurines, special effects and so on, at some point this assembly of techniques becomes just too much for the eye of the viewers, even if at the beginning it’s somehow fascinating.

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We can not appeal Tommy Graef’s imagination and he surely is a marvelous creator that likes to let his imagination guide him, but we highly recommend in the future projects to try being more coherent in his structures and maybe use less artistic styles and techniques per film, so the visual effect wouldn’t be so confusing to watch.