#rarebeasts

British singer and actress Billie Piper preset her first feature film. Nowadays society has to deal with a lot of inner troubles and communication misunderstandings.

Anti-romantic comedy, debut directorial work by British singer and actress Billie Piper. This is Rare Beasts, a feminist film that with ironic tones and unexpected jokes tells, through a nervous editing and energetic camera movements, a delicate moment in the life of a woman played by Piper herself: Mandy. A bit cynical about the concept of love, Mandy is a writer and raises her own son Larch, a young boy with considerable behavioral problems. In addition, Mandy lives with her mother and tries to establish a relationship with a rough and somewhat misogynistic man.

Rare Beasts is a film that requires the active participation of the viewer. The sometimes disarming dialogues are also expressions of unfiltered streams of consciousness. The intent is clearly to highlight a society, the one we live in, that doesn't work. It's a film that seems light but which after all is well studied and made, complex as a whole and which also wants to bring up reflections to the viewer. 

Directed and Written: Billie Piper

Interprets: Billie Piper, Leo Bill, Kerry Fox, Toby Woolf and David Thewlis

Country: UK

Year: 2019

Runtime: ’87

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One of our CatSynth TV episodes this week featured a close-up demonstration of the Wicks Looper by Rarebeasts, a tiny musical instrument that can make beats, loops, and all sorts of noises.  We also added a Korg Delay Monotron for filtering and delay effects in the last portion of the demo.

The Wicks Looper is a fun instrument that I have used in several live performances, though less so lately.  Its audio jack is a bit fussy at times, but as long as I remember I know how to make it work reliably.  Both it and the Monotron should see more use again this year as I plan out new ideas for solo performances.  And we still love that cat logo that looks so much like our dear Luna.  But there is also a (non-black) Luna who lives with the human who created the instrument, a fact involved in our discovering it in the first place.

Rarebeasts has moved on to newer custom electronic instruments that are quite sculptural in nature.  You can see their work at their Etsy shop.