**An uncanny and eye-opening journey into a mysterious building, adapted
from a short story by Jeff VanderMeer
**
To the west: trees. To the east: a mall. North: fast food. South:
darkness. And at the centre is The Building, an office building wherein
several factions vie for dominance. Inside, the walls are infiltrated
with vines, a mischief of mice learn to speak English, and something
eerie happens once a month on the fifth floor. In Secret Life, Theo
Ellsworth uses a deep-layered style to interpret Nebula award-winning
author Jeff VanderMeer's short story. What emerges is a mind-bending
narrative that defamiliarizes the mundanity of office work and makes the
arcane rituals of The Building home.
When his manager borrows his pen for a presentation, a man is driven to
unspeakable acts as he questions the role the pen has played in his
workplace success. The despised denizens of the second floor develop
their own tongue, incomprehensible to everyone else in The Building. A
woman plants a seed of insurgency that quickly permeates every corner of
the building with its sweet, nostalgic perfume.
With deft insight, Secret Life observes the sinister individualism of
bureaucratic settings in contrast with an unconcerned natural world. As
the narrative progresses you may begin to suspect that the world
Ellsworth has brought to life with hypnotic visuals is not so secret
after all; in fact, it's uncannily similar to our own.
