BODY TALK

BODY TALK

Eva Michon (EM): Ok well let’s jump in. We can start with "The Man That Got Away" by Trevor Anderson?

Kazik Radwanski (KR): Ok cool. Yeah, it’s awesome.

EM: I saw this film at HotDocs years ago.

KR: I met Trevor at the Berlin Film Festival years ago; he and I were the only two Canadians there that year.

EM: I remember a story about you guys trying to get into Bergheim and not getting in.

KR: Yeah, Trevor tried to get in with his Berlinale pass and they were not very impressed. So he very dramatically threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

EM: He is very dramatic!

KR: Yeah, but it is so cool to see him direct a musical, which makes total sense because he's a musician as well, right?

EM: I think he has a background in theatre, maybe even musical theatre. Even his narration in this film, the enunciation in this, is so proper.

KR: Yeah, I think that is a bit of a hallmark to his style, his voice. He's almost in the world of documentary. His voice is so charismatic.

EM: A Canadian Werner Herzog — friendly, not dark. The film he made at the Herzog film school, do you remember it? It is about a bridge in Edmonton where everyone commits suicide, and at the end he throws his camera off the bridge.

KR: That film reminded me a lot of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster, specifically the sequence at the Guggenheim.

EM: That's very true! Cremaster has an eerie, steady movement — in that Guggenheim sequence at least.

KR: "The Man That Got Away" is really smart. That feeling of descent, but the part when it gets to Judy Garland and she peers to the other side with the spotlight.

EM: I've actually referenced this before and wished that it was online so that I could show my cinematographer how I wanted something to look for a video I had done. The whole thing is so tongue-in-cheek but then the ending is so real.

KR: It’s so beautifully written - when a person dies on the street you go through their wallet. Imagine you find a note from Judy Garland in someones wallet, of course you’d keep it. The lyrics are great too.

EM: Theres one that's like, “This place is gay but not in a good way”.

KR: It's epic!

EM: So epic — it rides this fine line between fiction and documentary because it is about someone — it's a bit of a biopic. Rating: 5 stars!

KR: In terms of Brett Story’s film "Clear and No Screws" — have you seen "The Prison in Twelve Landscapes"

EM: No what is that?

KR: Its the feature film length version — I think the footage from "Clear and No Screws" is in it. Story made a longer documentary exploring prisons in different ways. How the prison permeates all parts of America. Such a fascinating study—breaking down prisoners by what they're allowed to have.

EM: It's interesting that an institution like the prison system creates this demand for very specific objects. It is counterintuitive that you'd start a business to supply that demand unless it touched you personally. Prisons are such a huge business that is so exploitive.

KR: There's something absurd or non-sensical about it — like how they explain a can of tuna is more dangerous than a broken cd. It doesn't make sense. They're not considering the prisoners.

EM: The prisoners are regarded as human bodies that need to be fuelled, and they create these guidelines to do so. It reminded me a bit of travelling on an airplane — how you can’t have bottles, and you have to take off your shoes, etc. But many companies now have these booming businesses making travel-sized stuff. You buy another bottle of water once you’ve crossed through security. I always imagine how much that contributes to landfills. Last summer I was given this really special container of Norwegian honey when I was in Oslo. I had to ditch it at airport security. This movie reminded me of that incident.

KR: I had this pen knife from my dad; he used to have it on his keychain. Customs once would not let me took it through; I ended up snapping off the blade and keeping it on my keyring.

KR: How did Jonathan Amitay animate "A Matter of Gravity"? Do you know?

EM: When I watched it I thought it was coloured sand with a flat black piece of paper underneath and they just move the sand around. It’s actually pretty brilliant because you can move it an infinite amount and at the end you don't have a million pieces of paper. But if you sneeze, you're fucked. I didn't think too much about why they chose to make it with the sand, though — maybe the fluidity of the sand.

KR: When I think of sand, I think of erosion, or dust in the wind — something temporary or ever-changing. The feeling of watching it was definitely fluid. You are aware as a viewer of how it is put together. The grains match some of the scenes of aging.
 
EM: Its called "A Matter of Gravity" but it feels like a matter of perspective. She gets up and has a terrible feeling about herself. The guy she's with says, “What are you talking about?” and her insecurity dissolves when she looks at herself again.
 
KR: It’s nice that it's pretty short, to the point. Do you think this would be time consuming to animate?
 
EM: I don't think it would be as time consuming as other types of animation. I’ve definitely experienced this, these feelings of insecurity about body and age. Do guys experience this? Have you experienced this?
 
KR: No.
 
EM: Haha
 
KR: I’m sure some guys do, but I don't think about my age too much.
 
EM: I guess when guys get close to this, they just get young girlfriends, and a fast car.

KR: Alexi Manis’ film "The Observatory" is a perfect juxtaposition to "A Matter of Gravity" with the black and this film on a white background. It's such a cool opportunity to do something so simple. It feels very intergalactic.
 
EM: Yea, its really simple but also feels very huge. It played at something called the $99 No Excuses Film Festival. Do you think this film would cost $99 to produce?
 
KR: Well was it black and white or was it colour? I think it was colour even though it was monochrome. You can see purples and greens, and the credits are yellow.
 
EM: Its got a pink hue. After the credit sequence the hand written notes appear that give credit to the constellations including the name of the sketch artist, with the coordinates and date that they were taken.
 
KR: I remember they did that in the credits for Leviathan (George P. Cosmatos, 1989), they give credit to the fish.
 
EM: You know I haven’t seen that. I guess I should see Leviathan, the fish movie.
 
KR: It's pretty singular in its approach. 

KR: Now about the Guy Maddin title, "Sissy Boy Slap Party", in your collection.

EM: Did you watch this crazy movie? 

KR: I did!

EM: They should have more of Guy Maddin’s stuff on VUCAVU; he’s just so fucking amazing. One of my favourite things about "Sissy Boy Slap Party" is all of the hair in the gate. It’s insane! It’s crazy! The little hairs that appear in the frame… it must be absolutely intentional, it doesn’t even look like hair, its like they threw some grass in there.

KR: It goes so far off the rails — cursing, etc — and the slapping feels like a Hong Kong action film. The fight scene is absurd.

EM: It’s very reminiscent of Sergei Eisenstein, the way that it was shot but he definitely edited it on a computer. I took Maddin's photo once for Bad Day Magazine and he was so great and such a nice person — so smart. He’s a National Treasure.

KR: I love that he still makes so many short films, most guys doing features would stop.

But he keeps making shorts. I think in the Bad Day interview Maddin says that writers can write any length they want — so why shouldn't directors make their own versions of a poem, or short story. 

EM: I think its really nice, because some stories don’t require an hour or two hours, they just require a minute or two.

KR: The last film in your collection was Freya Björg Olafson’s “Brief Encounters & Sustained Engagement”. I think this is definitely a gallery piece, right?

EM: I’m not sure, I could definitely see it playing in a gallery where you can come in and out. But there’s a clear ending. It seems random and then at the end the last guy says, “Oh this is art — you win” and it ends.

KR: I never went on the website Chatroulette.

EM: I went on it a few times when it first came out. It’s a trip! I always thought, “How cool would it be to use this for something?”, but it never took off like Snapchat did.

EM: Chatroulette in theory is so amazing. The idea that you can chat with someone at random, anywhere in the world. But, of course, the majority of this turned into pornography or exhibitionism. When you go on there 8/10 of the people is a guy jerking off or getting ready to jerk-off.

KR: In the film is the video of a girl dancing prerecorded?

EM: Yeah, and the reactions seem to be affected by where in the video people join-in. I tried Chatroulette; sometimes you think something is real, and you realize they’ve hacked it and its not a real person. I’d skip that right away.

KR: Yeah, I wanted her to give the peace sign, I was kinda disappointed that it was pre-recorded, but it’s still fascinating.

EM: I think Olafson wanted it to be noticed that it was an artwork. How did they get releases for all of the people in this?

KR: Well I’ve wondered that for my work, and then I thought — how would they ever see it? And if they did see it, that would be really exciting! But yeah, especially the guy jerking off, he probably wouldn’t be very happy about being in this.

EM: I don’t think you see his face and absolutely, it is a form of exhibitionism. This film definitely reminded me of Chatroulette. I’d forgotten about it. I don’t think it’s been used to its potential in film.

KR: There was a film I saw at the Locarno Film Festival called, The Human Surge by Eduardo Williams. It’s about 5 gay boys experimenting with the app and chatting with people all over the world. Williams’ does it in a really cinematic way.

EM: That’s really cool, I’ll check out that movie!

KR: I really loved your choices, it was cool doing this!

EM: Yea, it’s fun talking about all these special movies.