An ambitious debut feature film by Samantha Aldana and Kelly Murtagh that portrays a struggling singer’s battle with bulimia – but with a sprinkling of the horror genre.
Set in New Orleans, Murtagh stars as Ivy – a jazz crooner by night and employed at a dry cleaner’s by day. From the beginning it is evident Ivy is stuck in the cycle of binge eating and purging which eventually starts to have negative affects on her voice, career and her relationships. What’s more is that it appears as though her eating disorder is literally turning her into a monster, as she begins to notice disturbing physical transformations.
Shapeless handles this delicate subject matter with truth and integrity, and it is clearly well researched or drawn from personal experience. Many of the scenes are uncomfortable to watch but only because of their rawness and realism. Murtagh’s portrayal of this character is honest and dynamic as she shows a wide range of emotions from desperation, relief, shame, anger and sadness. Therefore, the horror aspect feels almost like an insult to the film’s truthful portrayal of such a debilitating illness. What’s worse is that the ‘monster’ elements are hardly featured and feel almost like an afterthought to add more excitement to the plot. Yet, ivy’s struggle with her eating disorder creates enough suspense already, especially when she is hospitalised – the severity of the situation is clear enough without adding the threat of the supernatural. Of course, it could be derived that the physical monster transformation is a metaphor, which is theoretically commendable but overall just feels unnecessary. Shapeless would make more sense simply as a drama, rather than being in the horror/drama genre.
In fact, Shapeless probably doesn’t really need to be a feature film. It could easily be a short and still convey the same ominous message. The pacing is slow and there is no clear beginning, middle and end, but rather a gradual unravelling of Ivy’s life that is clearly set in motion far before the audience meets her in this film. Her backstory is not explored, nor do we get a clear idea of where her future may lead at the end of the film. Perhaps the meaning is simply that the cycle will continue. There does, however, seem to be an ongoing theme throughout the film of oral fixation through the use of long close-ups on people’s mouths as they talk, eat and drink for example, which perhaps serves as an explanation for what triggers Ivy’s eating disorder.
Aside from the snippets of jazz music heard at Ivy’s performances, composer Mandy Hoffman’s music is dark and menacing and barely melodic – supporting the ‘horror’ genre. The repetitiveness of this music does eventually begin to drag and generally gives off a depressing mood. Natalie Kingston’s cinematography is also very dark, so much so that Ivy is sometimes barely identifiable from beneath dark shadows. This, too, is effective in conveying a clear menacing and melancholic mood, but which is exhausting to endure for the length of a feature film.
Overall, Shapeless is full of metaphor and allegory, which makes it artistically pleasing but perhaps not satisfying or entertaining enough as a feature film. It is certainly original and has carved out a style and genre of filmmaking of its own.
A quirky comedy/drama that takes a melancholy look at New York’s upper class.
French Exit tells the story of aging widowed Manhattan socialite, Frances (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), who is suddenly confronted with the reality that her wealth has run out. She resolves to cash in the last of her possessions and live out the rest of her days anonymously in Paris, taking her son, Malcolm, and cat, Frank, with her.
Both Frances and Malcolm seem directionless and without a life purpose. In fact, Frances is perpetually frustrated that she has not died before the money ran out, and that still she continues to live each day despite her efforts to tempt fate. And although Malcolm has a very pretty and deeply besotted girlfriend, played by Imogen Poots, he doesn’t make any attempt to keep her around and seems unbothered when his move to Paris separates them. Moreover, both characters seem unbothered about everything, and perhaps this is a result of their financially abundant lifestyle that has numbed their sense of reality. Or perhaps this chronic dissatisfaction is a genetic disposition… it is unclear.
Whatever the reason, the film definitely has a strong atmosphere of melancholia and depression. Although the aesthetic – which includes an abundance of fur and gold – is beautiful to look at, it is evident that something is deeply missing from these lavish lives.
The plot itself is minimal, but the mood and characters is what makes this film interesting. Despite their best efforts to be aloof, Frances and Malcolm collect an eclectic mix of friends on their travels, including a medium and a whacky admirer. Eventually Malcolm’s estranged girlfriend and her new suitor join the group in Paris and the story becomes almost a farce. Before you think things could not get any stranger, it becomes apparent that Frances’ late husband’s spirit may be embodied by their cat, who the group begin to communicate to through their recently acquired medium. And yet still Francis and Malcolm remained unaffected.
Pfeiffer is exceptional as always as she reprises the role of the aging high-society beauty, also featured in films like Chéri and The Age of Innocence. Azazel Jacobs’ direction is unique in that it feels natural but also surreal at the same time, like a Wes Anderson or Woody Allen film. Patrick deWitt’s screenplay, adapted from the navel of the same name, is a little bizarre and features a lot of (possibly intentional) repetitive and naff dialogue in a way that feels stylised.
Overall, French Exit is easy to watch and a pleasant enough experience, perhaps mainly due to Pfeiffer’s glamour and sass, but it can hardly be described as gripping and is mostly forgettable.
Martyr is a Lebanese art-house drama film written and directed by Mazen Khaled about the sudden drowning of a young man at a seaside hang-out and the following rituals and ceremonies that are undertaken as part of his community and culture.
Set in a poor part of Beirut, the story revolves around Hassane (Hamza Mekdad) who is an adult still living with his parents after loosing yet another job and is suffocating under their rules. But on this day instead of job-hunting he goes to the beach with his friends, a group of young similarly directionless men. Whilst swimming Hassane launches into a lengthy monologue about the seemingly pointlessness of his existence and describes the mundane of his day-to-day life.
At a rather dramatic turn of events, he takes a risky and ill-planned dive into rocky water where he meets his death. His friends are then forced to compute the sudden loss whilst dealing with the practicality of organising the appropriate way of transporting Hassane’s body to his mother and adhering to their societal expectations surrounding death. Once Hassane is in his mother’s arms, the procession of events leading to the funeral begins.
Whilst being a strikingly realistic refection of death and people’s immediate reaction to it, this movie is also romantic and poetic. Furthermore, there appears to be an ongoing theme of water and drowning that is set up in the opening credits where the camera continuously and slowly circles Hassane’s body under water.
The film seems to be capturing an atmosphere, a mood, and a culture, rather than telling a story. This could really be conveyed in a short-film and the 84 minutes (which is considerably short for a feature today) feels like it drags. And yet, the slowness of shots, and the time taken to show the full washing and dressing of the deceased, is extremely evocative and something we rarely experience in modern filmmaking.
Khaled displays artistic direction, with freeze frames and choreographed movement in certain scenes. There is also a beautiful yet ominous score by Zeid Hamdan and Vladimir Kurumilian that takes the spotlight particularly in the long opening scene and in the end credits. This is abruptly juxtaposed by the very ‘real life’ scenes accompanied by long moments of silence.
There is a lot of vagueness in this film. The main part being the sensuality and homoeroticism of many of the shots. The countless long shots trailing Hassane’s bare body suggests a tribute to the male form. This, along with the obvious closeness of the group of young men – both physically and emotionally – suggests perhaps that homosexuality is a theme.
It is feasible that perhaps this also contributes to Hassane and his friends’ daily struggle in a culture that would likely be unaccepting. But alas, we can only speculate.
Martyr overall is a fine example of powerful, evocative and artistic filmmaking yet it lacks story and drive and therefore feels far too slow for a feature length film.
Playdurizm is the debut feature film by the young artist, Gem Deger, who writes, directs and stars in this avant-garde sci-fi/fantasy/horror.
The strange and frankly nonsensical plot would be impossible to describe properly without writing a detailed outline. However, as a brief summary Playdurizm follows Demir (Deger), a teenager who finds himself caught in either a virtual reality or dream-state (it is unclear) where he lives with his celebrity crush, Andrew.
But Andrew’s violent fetishes soon become too apparent for Demir to ignore, forcing Demir to adapt and uncover hidden truths about himself. It is absolutely possible that another audience member would have a completely different plot description of this film as it is impossible to truly decipher the time or place of each scene, let alone the plot.
It is important to state that this is an extremely traumatic movie to watch and there is particularly triggering content that is explicitly shot. This includes (but is not limited to) love-making over a brutally murdered body, necrophilia and a creepy and masochistic gang-rape scene that last for what seems like an eternity.
Although this film is blatantly not being recommended here, it should be mentioned that not all aspects of the filmmaking were bad. The script and story are senseless with no resolution, but one could perhaps interpret that this film poses the question: ‘how grey is the line between real life and the virtual world, our dreams, and drug fuelled hallucinations?’ This is an interesting premise at least.
The visual and sound quality of the film is of a high standard. The use of electronic/house music and a futuristic soundscape was effective in creating a virtual-reality atmosphere, as was the fluorescent colour pallet. All the main actors including Gem Deger (Demir), Austin Chunn (Andrew) and Issy Stewart (Drew) played their roles with conviction.
It is not surprising to learn that Gem Deger is an artist turned filmmaker. From an artistic perspective Playdurizm is a colourful and psychedelic look at the human mind and the concept of ‘reality’, but as a feature film it is just not story-driven enough with far too much shock value for it to be enjoyable.
Jonathan Furmanski is the cinematographer who lensed every single episode of HBO Max’s cult crime comedy series Search Party, which returned for its fourth season this month.
What made you want to get into filmmaking?
Jonathan Furmanski: I’ve wanted to go into film since I was very young, though I can’t say I knew anything about the film industry except that there were producers, directors and actors. It all just came out of a love of going to the cinema and watching VCR’s and TV… I just devoured as many movies as I could find. Then I ended up going to film school, which is where I fell into cinematography. It was somewhat accidental but in hindsight it makes perfect sense. I was just completely enamored with cameras and camera technology, film stocks and lenses, and learning about all of the different tools and creative ways to put things together. It really happened when in film school we were split into groups and in mine no one really wanted to do any of the camera stuff so I just ended up doing it really on my own. It just snowballed from there.
Were you always interested in behind the camera work or did you start out thinking you would go into acting or directing?
I think that most people go to film school – or at least when I was there – to be a writer/director. But in my personal experience that was really just out of ignorance of not knowing what the other jobs were. Like a lot of people at the time, I went into film school with the idea of being like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee but it became really obvious really quickly that my talents were not in writing and/or directing. And so it felt like it really just worked out for me with the camera stuff, we sort of just found each other.
What are some of the films that sparked your passion for filmmaking?
Jonathan Furmanski: The seeds of it all definitely started with things like Star Wars – the thrill and excitement of that experience as a kid. But then when I started to see movies like 2001, although still a kid I could understand that there was something poetic about the visual language being used by filmmakers like Kubrick. I started to take the idea of being a filmmaker more seriously then, just by knowing that there were more serious things going on in film. My parents were very good at taking my sister and I to art movies like Fitzcarraldo and 2001 when we were very young.
Can you explain your role as a cinematographer from pre to post filming?
That’s a tough question to answer for me, strangely enough. The simple answer is that the cinematographer is responsible for what everything looks like and what the visual language is of a movie, TV show, music video or commercial. It’s creating a visual experience that reinforces the story, whether that’s drama or comedy or whatever. But more specifically you’re involved from the beginning in terms of creating the visual atmosphere and mood and your working in conjunction with the director and producer and department heads, then taking that all the way through to the finishing of the movie, not just the filming, but working with the colorist and visual effects artist and making sure all of that work creates one big cohesive and visual expression for the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSmvtX-d6GU
How would you describe your cinematic style? Would you say you have a distinct style or that you adapt according to the project?
Jonathan Furmanski: I like to think that I can adapt to whatever the requirement of the project is. That said, I know that there are certain things that are just not in my nature to do. I think of myself as a naturalist. And when I approach something – whether that’s something that’s supposed to have a little bit of a horror feeling or comedy or drama – I kind of always start from a naturalistic approach and then hone that and modify it to fit the specific genre. Conrad Hall always feels very real and grounded even when it gets to the fantastical elements like the dream sequences in American Beauty, he keeps it feeling like you’re still actually in the world, so I try and do something that approximates that more than going into the more expressionistic looks.
What was the inspiration behind your work on Search Party?
When we did that pilot we were still figuring out what the show was, not just in terms of the photography but the story of the entire season, which had not been mapped out yet. We just knew someone was missing and this goofy collection of friends was going to try and figure it out. But what we talked about a lot was the idea of keeping things “off kilter”. We knew there were going to be these mysterious elements to it so we wanted to have this sort of voyeuristic feel. In Dory’s mind, where she feels a little bit rudderless, we thought about how she could also feel a little “watched”, so we referenced a lot of Kubrick and David Fincher, to try and keep it just a little bit off-balance. At the same time Search Party is equal parts drama and comedy, and so we didn’t want to do anything that undermined the comedy aspects to it, so it was about trying to keep that all cohesive. Later we noticed that each season had a different feel, like season 1 was a little bit like Scooby Doo as they go off to try and solve the mystery within their little friend group, but then season 2 took a little more of a Hitchcock skew, courtroom drama for season 3, and season 4 I don’t want to give too much away but it gets into some realty crazy territory.
Is there a certain methodology you have specific to comedy? How did you maintain the comedic aspect in Search Party whilst allowing it to also be a crime/thriller?
One of the things that we also talked about was trying to find a way of not relying on typical comedy conventions. Historically comedy was about shooting it wide, keeping it bright, and don’t move the camera too much, just let the comedy speak for itself. We didn’t want to sacrifice this greater visual language for the sake of the comedy, but at the same time we didn’t want the visual style to undermine it. So for example when we have the four main characters at the table we would be making sure we have a frame where we can see what everyone is doing. Because actors like John Reynolds and John Early do every take a little differently and you never know what your going to get out of them. So it was basically about giving them the room and being a little bit looser with what we were already doing so that they could basically do what they wanted. And then in the moment where we got out of that and Dory was maybe sneaking down the hallway, then we could dive a little bit more deeply into creating something more dramatic without it feeling like we were taking a big turn in one way or the other and having it feel schizophrenic. Unless we wanted that… sometimes we did!
What is your future dream project?
Jonathan Furmanski: For a long time I’ve really wanted to do a classic slasher/horror movie … like Halloween and Friday the 13th. I love those movies and I think they look like a lot of fun to make and I would just love to be apart of one. I think it would be pushing me out of my comfort zone a bit, but also just a really fun experience.
