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The unnerving tale of life in a modern tower block running out of control. Within the concealing walls of an elegant forty-storey tower block, the affluent tenants are hell-bent on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on 'enemy floors and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for technological mayhem...In this classic visionary tale, human society slips into violent reverse as the inhabitants of the high-rise, driven by primal urges, recreate a world ruled by the laws of the jungle.Â
High-Rise is a 2015 British dystopian film directed by Ben Wheatley, starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, and Elisabeth Moss. It was produced by Jeremy Thomas through his production company Recorded Picture Company. Its screenplay was written by Amy Jump and based on the 1975 novel High-Rise by British writer J. G. Ballard.Â
The film is set in a luxury tower block during the 1970s. Featuring a wealth of modern conveniences, the building allows its residents to become gradually uninterested in the outside world. The infrastructure begins to fail and tensions between residents become apparent, and the building soon descends into chaos.Â
10% of all ticket sales will go to supporting independent cinemas across the UK via BFI FAN, as venues begin to open their doors again.
Kitty Green talks to our London correspondent Ella Kemp about âputting the audience in the shoes of the youngest woman in a toxic work environmentâ in her new film, The Assistant.
The long-undervalued job of a Hollywood assistant has come into stark relief thanks to recent events, and the stories that are being told of assistantsâ experiences, working conditions and pay rates are jaw-dropping. (Episode 422 of the Scriptnotes podcast is well worth a listen.)
Filmmaker Kitty Green was well ahead of the conversation; her first narrative feature, The Assistant, quietly premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last August (and the Berlinale in February). Dubbed by many as âthe first post-#MeToo movieâ, it is a remarkable portrait of a young woman navigating just another day in the office. Except this is not just another office, and so many things are wrong about this day.
Starring Julia Garner (Grandma, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Electrick Children) as Jane, the assistant to the predatory head of a New York-based film studio, the story zooms in on the details of her routineâthe tedious tasks, the belittlement from her colleagues, the oppression from her mostly faceless bossâwith such laser-sharp vision that by the end we feel we know Jane deep in our bones.
Various Letterboxd reviews mention the anxiety-inducing way The Assistant allows us to watch Jane âprobe her place in the established, tacit system of complacency⊠knowing that everyone around her is motivated by self-interest to pretend it doesnât existâ (Josh Lewis). âGreen encourages her viewers to pay close attention to whatâs really going on beneath the surface,â (KristineJean) in âa horror movie of soul-sickening ambienceâ (Scott Tobias).
Though The Assistantâs film festival run was cut short, and the closure of cinemas around the world hurts for a lot of us, thereâs something about the claustrophobia of social distancing and the intimacy of the small screen that maybe suits this picture. Nevertheless, seeing the film in a cinema in âthe before timeâ highlighted for Alyssa Heflin the ocean of different opinions that can come from misunderstood subtext: âWatching this in a room where you can hear people snickering at the girl and asking what the point of all this is adds a certain extra⊠incendiary level to an already deeply angry viewing experience.â Indeed, discomfort and crossed wires seem to define the messages at the core of The Assistant.
Kitty Green talks to Ella Kemp about the influence of Chantal Akerman, the infinite watchability of Julia Garner, and the oddness of growing up with a Nazi-free edit of The Sound of Music.
Jane (Julia Garner) takes another call from the boss in âThe Assistantâ.
The Assistant is your first fiction feature. The subject matter feels so immediateâwhat made you choose to not make a documentary of this, given your track record in that realm?
Kitty Green: I went to fiction film school, and I made fiction short films. I then found work in documentary, so I made two feature-length docs. With this one, I was looking at exploring the micro-aggressions, the tiny moments, gestures, looks, glances, behaviors that often go overlooked when covering the #MeToo movement. We often talk about the bad men and the misconduct, but this is more about a cultural, structural problem. So I was hoping to amplify the more quietly insidious behavior that we need to address if we really want things to improve. A fiction film allowed me to hone in on detailsâclose upâand the way you can take an annoyance through the emotional experience, putting the audience in the shoes of the youngest woman in a toxic work environment.
How did you decide to keep the timeframe to just one day in Janeâs life rather than fleshing it out over a longer period?
The lead character is in such a complicated position. Itâs such a difficult set of circumstances, the machinery that this predator has created around himself. I wanted to untick that, to discuss how difficult it is to be a young woman in that environment. So the day, the routine, was really important. What she was experiencing, how she was experiencing it; every task she did I gave equal weight to. Whether she was photocopying, binding something suspicious, you experience it as you would if you were in her shoes. That was important to me.
I had my fists clenched the whole time, when sheâd be eating cereal, or washing up mugs, waiting for something awful to happen.
Totally. Itâs exploring misconduct, but itâs also looking at a whole spectrum, from gendered work environments, toxic work environments, through all these environments that support predatory behavior. I was interested in what the entry points are, without conflating those issues and being able to explore all the cultural systemic things we need to unpick to move forward.
The film is so focused on Jane, played by Julia Garner. How did you choose her?
The script is pretty bare when it describes who she is, sheâs just Jane. I didnât have anyone in mind, really. I told my casting agent that weâre watching this character do the most mundane tasks, so it was important that she was striking. I said I needed someone infinitely watchable. I had seen Julia in The Americans and I remembered being struck by her, so I immediately wanted to meet her. She really understood the script, it worked out beautifully. We got to create the character together, we had a month of rehearsals where we really went through where she was emotionally at any given point, and Julia is wonderful so it was great.
Matthew Macfadyen and Kitty Green discuss a scene in âThe Assistantâ. / Photo: Ty Johnson
And Matthew Macfadyenâhis character feels so crucial and his performance so pivotal, even in just one scene. What were you looking for when casting him?
Iâve been a fan of his for forever, but I hadnât seen Succession. Apparently the character has some similarities? Iâve only watched Succession in the past week⊠Somebody had to send me a clip to prove he could do an American accent! Matthew really brought something to that character and took it to another level. Itâs so insidious what he does. He and Julia worked so beautifully together, it just got better and better every time.
How did you feel watching Succession now and seeing Matthew as Tom Wambsgans?
Tom still feels different somehow. But Iâve had a good time watching it, heâs so great. There are parallels for sure!
The language you use in the film is so careful, so much is in the subtext. How do you build tension from these empty spaces?
We had a great visual team who were lighting it in an interesting way. There was a lot of oppressive fluorescent lights. The sound was also very importantâwe had an amazing sound designer, Leslie Schatz, who does a lot of Todd Haynesâ stuff and Gus Van Santâs. Heâd done Elephant, which I thought was phenomenally sound designed. He sent out a team to record every kind of buzz, hum, whir, and we created a lot of tension in that soundscape. It heightens these moments when you can really feel the hum of the fluorescent lights or the alarm of the copier. Things like that are authentic to the world, so it doesnât feel like youâre manipulating an audience, but they do add a dramatic tension.
During The Assistantâs various film festival screenings so far, audience reactions have been quite varied. Some people find it uncomfortable, some have found it funny. What would you hope an audience member would take from it?
Who found it funnyâŠ? Thatâs a strange reaction, and a little terrifying. I think it makes some men uncomfortable and maybe their reaction is to laugh as a way to hide that discomfort. I get a lot of men come up to me afterwards and say, âThere are things in that film that maybe I have done.â Those conversations are really important. Thereâs a scene where the men lean over Janeâs chair and correct her email, little things like that which can be quite patronising even if a lot of men think are helpful. But thereâs a point where they cross a line, where maybe it isnât helpful anymore and itâs a little insulting. Iâve had a few people who are bosses with their own assistants who have watched the film and have said theyâre going to treat them a little better, and that maybe theyâre wrestling with their own guilt. I think those conversations are great.
Julia Garner prepares for a take on the set of âThe Assistantâ. / Photo: Ty Johnson
What is your favorite one-woman-show performance, where one female actor entirely carries the film?
A big influence on The Assistant was Chantal Akermanâs Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Itâs just one woman going about her housework. I remember seeing that in film school and being bowled over by it, Iâd never seen anything like it.
Do you have a favorite scene that has ever taken place in an office environment?
Offices⊠I mean, I love The Office? I watched it in preparation for this, even though thereâs seemingly nothing in common except for the ways of the photocopierâŠ
Itâs important to inhale that kind of comedy while working on something more intense, right?
For sure, that helps.
What is your favorite on-screen argument?
I watched a lot of them to prepare for the HR scene, as itâs a confrontation between two characters. Thereâs a scene in Steve McQueenâs Hunger, which is a seventeen-minute dialogue. Itâs an incredible scene. Itâs not an argument but still some sort of confrontation. I was interested in scenes like that which are really long and stand out from the rest of the movie. James Schamus, one of my producers, made a film called Indignation, which has a confrontation between two characters, which also influenced the structure of what I was doing. I also just watched the latest episode of Better Call Saul in which thereâs a sixteen-minute confrontation, which I thought was pretty remarkable.
What was the first film that made you want to be a filmmaker?
To be honest Iâm not sure. I got a video camera when I was eleven, and I started playing with it in our backyard, making little movies. It wasnât that I saw a film and tried to replicate it necessarily. But I do have a strange storyâŠ
I had a copy of The Sound of Music in which my father had edited out the Nazis, because he was worried Iâd be scared of them as a kid. So I have this strange 40-minute version of the film that ends at the wedding scene⊠And I always thought that was The Sound of Music, and then in high school I figured out thereâs this whole other storyline I never knew existed. I guess that taught me the power of editing! I had to go back and rewatch what Iâd seen, and it definitely made me think of the craft more as a viewer.
âThe Assistantâ is available to watch on VOD platforms (including Hulu) as of late July.
The interviewer referring to Johnny and Daniel relationship as a marriage and William said 'indeed' and he went on saying their relationship is a sort of a "Las Vegas marriage" I'M CRYING
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Ten indie films you can rent right now, as recommended by Letterboxd members.
Sure, Scoob!. Yes, Extraction. The Wrong Missy, okay. On the other hand, there are plenty of interesting indie films available for VOD and virtual screenings right now that havenât necessarily had the benefit of studio backing, big stars, film festivals, red carpets or other ânormal-circumstancesâ coverage to build word-of-mouth.
So, because these are abnormal circumstances, we sent our West Coast editor Dominic Corry on a hunt through your recent reviews to find ten under-seen but enthusiastically received indies that you can rent today.
Thanks to our partnership with JustWatch, you can find availability details on each filmâs Letterboxd pageâand Dominic has also helpfully provided further links to make it that much easier to support these indie films.
Powerbomb
Directed by R. Zachary Shildwachter and B.J. Colangelo
Starring Matt Capiccioni (better known Matt Cross, or M-Dogg 20, or Son of Havoc) as an up-and-coming wrestling star, and Wes Allen as the obsessive fan who kidnaps him, Powerbomb is âThe King of Comedy set in the indie wrestling scene, which is a cool fucking concept if nothing else,â according to Dustin Baker. âLuckily, thereâs some witty writing and good performances to back up that concept to create something thatâs surprisingly a lot of fun.â
Donât worry if you know nothing about wrestling, writes Justin Nordell: âAs someone who has zero reference point for wrestling, this film not only made it accessible but enthralling!â
A guide to where you can watch Powerbomb can be found on the filmâs website.
Arkansas
Directed by Clark Duke
Quietly ubiquitous comedic actor Clark Duke (Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine) directed and co-wrote this neo-noir in which he stars alongside such high-profile talent as Vince Vaughn, John Malkovich and Liam Hemsworth. Everyone agrees that the film wears its influences on its sleeve. Chainsaw Massacre âloved nearly every minute of this deliberately paced descendant of Tarantino and the Coen brothers. [But] comparing it to those [âŠ] filmmakers does it a disservice though, because, while you can feel their influence, first-time director Clark Duke does have his own distinct styleâ.
While noting that it marks another interesting performance in Vaughnâs recent emergence as a worthy cinematic lowlife, Tummis would also âlike to point out that Liam Hemsworth was great in thisâ.
Arkansas is available via various digital outlets, as indicated on its official website.
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
Directed by Rob Garver
Before the Letterboxd era, film criticism was a much more exclusive realm, and no one critic loomed larger in that realm than The New Yorkerâs Pauline Kaelâso iconic that true cineastes of her time referred to her simply by her first name. So it behooves you, good Letterboxd member, to familiarize yourself with this master of the form via this new documentary.
In a review that feels like it could apply to any number of Letterboxd members, kmarus says âFrom what Iâve encountered of her criticism, Kael and I disagree on a lot of things, but one thing that is readily apparent to anyone who reads her writing is that she genuinely cares about moviesâ.
Letterboxdâs London correspondent (and professional critic) Ella Kemp felt personally validated watching the film. âItâs magic, sheâs magic, this is why we needed her and why we always need movies, and why I want to keep talking about them. Itâs nice if you read me, if you like me or if you agree with meâbut even if you donât, I know Iâll be sticking around for a while anyway. Iâm nowhere near done yet.â
You can rent the film here.
Slay The Dragon
Directed by Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance
The insidious and nebulous practice of gerrymandering is the focus of this acclaimed documentary. As member Andrew Chrzanowski ominously intones, the film is ânever more timely than right here and right nowâ and âdemands you to watch, so you may witness in a comprehensive and detailed way the metastasis of the most malignant cancer on our democracy: gerrymandered districts and redrawn borders by Republicans, especially after the 2010 electionsâ.
Guyatthemovies says the film âdoes a phenomenal job of taking a topic that may seem confusing for most who are not familiar and breaking it down to simplistic terms, explaining the impact of gerrymandering [through] well-known examplesâ and that âthis is a must-watch for anyone concerned about the state of politics todayâ.
You can support your favorite theater by renting the film here.
Judy & Punch
Directed by Mirrah Foulkes
Mia Wasikovska and Damon Herriman, two of the more interesting Australian actors working in film today, and each possessed of a fantastically cinematic face, star in this one-of-a-kind film as a couple operating a marionette show in a town about to bubble over with tension. Like the classic puppet characters that title the film, they come to blows.
The film is the feature-directing debut of Aussie actor and filmmaker Mirrah Foulkes, and Letterboxd member CJ Johnson says she âannounces herself as a feature auteur of serious talent and limitless potential with [âŠ] a film whose great artfulness is only outdone by its sheer, breath-taking originalityâ.
Jess V.K. warns us to âgo into this film with no expectations, because whatever you were expecting is not what you will seeâ.
This French comedy (of sorts) presents a fresh perspective on a very French activity: infidelity. It begins with a woman, Maria (Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Italian-French acting royalty Marcello Mastroanni and Catherine Deneuve) deciding to leave her husband, and taking up residence across the street where she can observe him.
As Allison M. explains, âlike a modernized version of A Christmas Carol, spirits living and dead come to haunt Maria to help her make a decision about whether or not she should return to her husband. It is complete with a phantom baby, reference to a past threesome, and kissing cousinsâ.
The film caused Gmacauley to ruminate: âHave you ever thought to yourself that when you get old youâd like to travel to the past and sleep with your significant other while theyâre young again? Well now I have.â
Watch it here; and also seek out Nicolas Bedosâ marital fantasy romp, La Belle Ăpoque.
The Assistant
Directed by Kitty Green
This austere take on the #MeToo era stars Ozark breakout Julia Garner as a bottom-rung assistant to a never-seen, New York-based film producer clearly modeled on Harvey Weinstein. Through one long workday, we are witness to the manipulative practices that enable such a figure, without ever landing on a single incident that she can cite as tangible proof of his behavior, which helps detail the impossibility of herâand countless othersââsituation.
While the filmâs understated style has thrown some viewers off, thatâs entirely the point according to Ryne Walley, who says it âaims true with unwavering confidence. The calculated pace and concise nature of The Assistant hides very little, echoing the countless cases of abuse and depravity thatâve been disclosed⊠an agonizingly taut feat of filmmaking⊠Your heart sinks with each passing hourâ.
âSo quietly powerful, this is a female film through and through. Gut wrenching in the simplest way,â writes Letterboxd member Katie.
Ella Kemp interviewed Green about The Assistant for Letterboxd. The filmâs official website lists various VOD options.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Directed by Justin Pemberton
French economist Thomas Pikettyâs 2013 book about income equality forms the basis of this documentary, which takes on a new pertinence in the coronavirus era.
âItâs a sobering trip,â says Joey Jepson. âAs if Covid-19 wasnât enough to send you into a deep depression, Capital in the Twenty-First Century presents a thesis that seems to indicate that if we donât course correct, we will see a further divide and evaporation of the middle-class.â
Michael agrees: âVery clearly and lucidly explains why weâre fucked if we donât start regulating capital.â Eep.
Rent the film here.
Spaceship Earth
Directed by Matt Wolf
The 1991 biosphere experimentâin which a group of people sealed themselves off from the world (hey!) to investigate human self-sustainabilityâis the subject of this documentary, which, like Capital in the Twenty-First Century, also hits a little different in the current moment.
Kellyabailey is on board: âIâm fuckin inspired, man. I wanna see what Iâm capable of and finally start that commune Iâve been dreaming up.â
Smooz was impressed with how the film didnât make fun of its subjects: âItâs rare for a documentarian [âŠ] dealing with kooks to produce a movie with any sort of empathy. This movie takes the kooks involved in one of the kookiest, most ridiculed projects in recent decades and honestly shows their successes, visionary moments, shortcomings, and failures while resisting the urge to dunk on them and give them swirlies.â
Letterboxd editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood spoke to Wolf about his filmâand what movies heâd choose to take with into a biosphereâin this interview. Rent the movie here.
Arenât You Happy
Directed by Susanne Heinrich
Those in the mood for something different might do well to check out this aesthetically bold German filmâthink Wes Anderson meets The Love Witch meets the movie Robert De Niro takes Cybill Shepherd to see on their âdateâ in Taxi Driverâfollowing a young woman named MĂ€dchen (Marie Rathscheck) through various strange encounters.
Arvid Schmiedehausen says it âmight be the most artistic film I have ever watched. It is highly ambitious in its attempts to deconstruct society and western values through fourteen episodes, with each being a persiflage on one unique aspect of itâ. [We had to look up âpersiflageâ too.]
Ian A. Chapman writes that ânot in anyway adhering to convention, Arenât You Happy melancholically meanders through rendezvous allowing time for delicious dialogue. Visually pleasing, the colour choices neatly frame the scenes and set the tones allowing for a shorthand into the vibeâ.
The director of new documentary Spaceship Earth on snark, queer cinema, the survival of our species, and the ten films heâd take into a biosphere.
In 1991, eight people entered a vivarium to conduct a two-year experiment on whether humans could become fully self-sufficient inside a closed system on thisâor any otherâplanet. Calling themselves the Synergists, the small collective, led by a charismatic chap named John Allen, had backgrounds in theater, art, science and business, and they became media superstars for a short period of time.
With much of the world sheltering in place in cramped apartments, many of us can only dream of being locked-down inside a human-scale terrarium complete with lush gardens, creative friends and a cook as inventive as Biospherian Sally Silverstone. Biosphere 2, which still stands on a ranch in Arizona, looks really inviting right now.
But there are complexities, tensions and controversies in an experiment like this, as documentarian Matt Wolf explores in his new film Spaceship Earth, which blends fantastic archive footage and present-day interviews to bring those two years to light.
Biospherians (left to right): Bernd Zabel, Taber MacMullen (top) Mark Van Thillo, Jane Poynter, Linda Leigh, Roy Walford (middle), Abigail Alling and Sally Silverstone (bottom) posing inside Biosphere 2 in 1990. / Photo courtesy of NEON
Wolf talks with Letterboxdâs editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood about the lessons we can learn from the Biospherians amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the ten films heâd take into a biosphere with him, and the dangers of ignoring young people.
How (and where) are you during this pandemic?
Matt Wolf: Iâm doing well. Iâm in my living room in the Lower East Side of New York, where I am every day, and Iâm doing okay because I'm throwing myself into this film release. Itâs been a real relief to have something to do instead of just reading the news and being trapped at home. The timing is uncanny, but Iâm seizing the moment. Iâm very happy to be participating and doing lots of virtual events and promoting the film so that people will watch it, because I hope that it will give some perspective for what weâre going through.
Thatâs the next obvious question: how did your work on Spaceship Earth prepare you for this extraordinary moment, and what advice do you have for those of us sheltering in our own tiny biospheres?
Itâs funny. My producer Stacey Reiss says the Biospherians were in their world for two years; we were in our filmmaking bubble for two years, too. And so, we could relate in that way but we never thought we would relate so vividly to that experience. And I think, you know, talking to the Biospherians, something that they relayed was that it really was a transformative experience, because they were responsible for creating their own atmosphere, for producing the food they needed to eat, and they really couldnât take anything for grantedâeven a breath of fresh air. So when they came out they felt a renewed connection to the larger world, and a different sense of responsibility and consequence for their actions.
I hope that in some ways we all feel transformed by this experience, and it allows us to engage with the world in a different way, because weâre going to have to think and act differently now that we really understand in a visual sense how fragile the world really is.
The exterior of Biosphere 2. / Photo courtesy of NEON
Yes, it feels like the Earth is breathing. Itâs such an interesting time.
Yeah. I think we need to make a connection between climate change and whatâs happening now. If we donât change how we behave, the threat of long-term catastrophe is inevitable. Not to take this to a dark place, but itâs true.
From a filmmaking perspective, weâre living in a time where, with social media and smartphones, we are creating our own content every second of every day. One thing thatâs endlessly fascinating about archive-based films like yours, is how lucky we are to have had peopleâwho were not necessarily filmmakers themselvesâdocument these extraordinary experiences. What was it like when you first started diving into that footage?
Iâm actually always on the lookout for stories that have a strong basis in archival material that can help activate them and bring them into the present. I was certainly determined to tell this story; it was extraordinary and I knew there was a great deal of media coverage. But when I went to meet the Synergists at their ranch, I was brought into this temperature-controlled room that had hundreds of 16mm film canisters, analog video cassettes, thousands of images; it was astonishing that they had had the foresight to not only document what they were doing but also to preserve it in such a meticulous way.
To me it was an indication that they recognized that what they were doing was history, but also kind of poignant because nobody had taken an interest in that archive and tapped into it, so it felt like an incredible opportunity, but also a responsibility as well. It would have been a much less potent film had we not had that material as well as the video diaries that Biospherian Roy Walford shot inside.
For me, it is unprecedented to be able to tell a storyâparticularly a story with so many narrative twists and turnsâthat has archival footage that covers literally every beat of the story. I donât expect that to happen often in my filmmaking career! This was an extraordinary situation.
Biospherian Linda Leigh and tourists. / Photo courtesy of NEON
Okay Matt, youâre heading into the Biosphere, with no internet, and you can only take ten films with you. What are the films that youâd pack to take? To help you choose, weâll give you some guidelines. Whatâs the movie youâve watched the most?
I would say the movie Iâve watched the most, ever, is Todd Haynesâ movie Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. It was a movie made with Barbie dolls about Karen Carpenterâs life. I have just watched that movie over and over and over again, and itâs a bootleg movie because the Carpenter estate suppressed it. Itâs one of those things made of lore, in which people exchanged low-quality file transfers, and I got my hands on a high-quality restoration recently. I love showing it to people who havenât seen it, and itâs a total joy to watch that movie. That is the movie that I would definitely need to have access to if I could never see anything again.
Can you name a favorite documentary; one that has meaning for you?
Every once in a while I watch this documentary that really is in some ways my favorite. To me itâs like taking a bath to watch this film, a bath for my brain. Itâs called A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake. Iâve only been able to find it on YouTube; itâs not in distribution. Iâm a fan, but the film is just made in such a delicate and visually precise way. It represents the type of filmmaking that I really love. Itâs seemingly straightforward as a documentary, but I think in its subtlety it is really just a soothing and absorbing film.
Whatâs the film youâd take to entertain your fellow Biospherians on a Friday night?
One of my favorites from when i was a kid that I think would be fun to watch on a Friday night is Troop Beverly Hills. If you want just like cotton candy, that would be my version of that.
Shelley Long and her Wilderness Girls in âTroop Beverly Hillsâ (1989).
A film for the inevitable long, lonely, insomniac nights?
If I was feeling depressed and lonely, and like really leaning into those feelings of isolation, maybe like Fassbinderâs Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. I remember that as being a film that was at once devastating but also comforting. Just about human connection and human alienation. I just think itâs so deep and true.
What about a film that you like to impress people with because of the way it looks, or makes you feel?
One of my favorite movies that I just love to show to people because itâs so amazingâwell, thereâs two that fit into that category, movies that are fun to show people because they are unbelievable and true. One is Hail the New Puritan by the artist Charlie Atlas. Itâs a documentary about Michael Clark, a kind of punk ballet dancer from London in the 80s, who collaborated with Leigh Bowery and The Fall. Charlie, the filmmaker, made it in the model of A Hard Dayâs Night, the Beatles vehicle, and it follows this gay punk ballet dancer on his nightlife and pseudo-celebrity adventures through 80s punk London.
And then my other film that is too good to be true is A Bigger Splash [the 1973 Jack Hazen documentary, not the 2015 Luca Guadagnino feature], which is a similarly constructed documentary about David Hockney that feels like a fiction film staged with all the characters from his orbit during the height of his popularity in swinging London. Itâs such a great depiction of an artistâs life and itâs completely baffling how the filmmaker was able to generate such access and to construct a film that feels so dramatized.
What film has had the biggest impact on you, whether for its meaning or for its execution?
One of the films that had a big effect on me and that I really think the communal experience is central to, is Derek Jarmanâs film Blue. He made it when he was dying of AIDS and itâs a lush soundscape with a kind of like non-linear stream of thoughts coming from Derek Jarman, and a beautiful soundscape, with material from Brian Eno. Itâs a feature-length film where the screen is just blue. Every time that film screens in the cinema, I take the opportunity to go because itâs almost a religious experience. A cinematic religious experience. I feel really moved by it but it also is something to share with other people, in an unusual way.
Whatâs a recent queer film youâd take in with you?
Thereâs this movie I was obsessed with. I just thought of it the other day: Saint Laurent, by Bertrand Bonello. It came out a few years ago and itâs a completely narcotic, kaleidoscopic biopic, and I think itâs so rare that biopics actually inhabit the psyches of their famous protagonist and that the actors donât just feel like theyâre doing pantomime. This film really captures not only the disintegrating psychology of Yves Saint Laurent, but also the context of the gay subcultures of Paris in 1970s and the 80s. Itâs this super-vivid depiction of subculture, but through a very narcotic lens. I just was obsessed with that film. Itâs not really considered âqueer filmâ, I think itâs more considered a biopic, but to me itâs one of the more interesting depictions of queer culture in recent years.
Gaspard Ulliel as Yves Saint Laurent in Bertrand Bonelloâs âSaint Laurentâ (2014).
And finally, a fond, family-viewing memory?
I always loved Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. I mean, I wouldnât say itâs one of my favorite films but every time I see it, itâs like, âOh, I get why I was obsessed with that as a kidâ. I love the visual world and Gene Wilder is so bizarre and a little creepy. If you look at it as an adult thereâs something kind of perverse about it, but I love a kind of analog fantasy world! So that film is, you might say, delicious.
You could say Spaceship Earth is a kind of analog fantasy worldâthe Biosphere itself is a living fantasy. Iâm interested to know what youâd say to younger film lovers of today about what they might get out of seeing these avant-garde theater-makers-turned-Biospherians of yesterday?
This film is more targeted towards younger people. I feel like there is a certain cynicism amongst adults that completely discounts young people and their ability to reimagine the world in creative ways. This is something I really dealt with in my film Teenage, the history of the invention of teenagers: adults always try to control young people. They corral the inventiveness of young people and the languages that they speak and invent. Young people all fight back, trying to define the world on their own terms, and this is really a film about a group of people who came together in their 20s and decided to reimagine and redefine, literally, a new world. There are all sorts of forces of establishment that tried to stop them and question and discount them.
We live in a world thatâs pretty cynical and brings a lot of skepticism to people who try to do things differently, and I think as a 20-year-old you might see yourself in the idealism of these unusual people. Donât you think thatâs true? That, like, 20-year-olds arenât as snarky and cynical? I feel like 20-year-olds are earnest and sincere and idealistic. Maybe Iâm out of touch, but that was my experience and part of what Iâve observed in other young people.
I just feel like that âsnarkinessâ that is often represented in the media is the cynicism that comes with the bitterness of life experience. And when youâre young and donât have hardships and disappointments that have maybe hardened you with a certain kind of cynicism, it is possible to think more expansively and more optimistically about the world. We really need to tap into that energy. Itâs not really helpful at this moment to, I donât know, to shoot down anyone whoâs trying something new. I hadnât thought about that, but I'd be really curious what young people think of the film.
Thatâs a useful perspective, and makes me think of how, over the last couple of years, we have seen so much grassroots activism from young people, and now with the global lockdown thereâs been a quieting of the youth climate movement, at least out there on the streets.
Youâre totally right. It was this big loud wave of activity and now with the pandemic it has really been washed over. But what they're talking about is long-term consequences, and if we donât address the underlying issues that have related to the collapse of our society as a result of uncontrollable environmental factors, the survival of our species is threatened.
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âSpaceship Earthâ is available for virtual screenings and on streaming services now. Our thanks to NEON.