RAW LIKE SUSHI: THE KERN SAXTON INTERVIEW

Emerging as one of the cult hits of the year is Sushi Girl, the debut feature from writer/director Kern Saxton. The story of a naked woman covered in raw fish who must remain immobile as a desperate group of violent crims air their grievances, the film has wowed midnight crowds at genre events since its premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con. Ahead of the film’s Australian red-carpet launch at the Gold Coast Film Festival on April 19, Saxton (pictured, below left) spoke to SCREEN-SPACE from his Los Angeles base.

Your cast is a who’s-who of great genre actors – Tony Todd, Sonny Chiba, Michael Biehn, Danny Trejo, Jeff Fahey, James Duvall. How did your script (co-written with Destin Pfaff) get to all these iconic names?  

When you go out to attach actors to your script, you have to go through this wall that is the agencies and it can be a very disheartening experience because there is a lot of politics and money involved. We were, and still are, a very small budget film and when we got the script to Tony Todd, his representation said that he wouldn’t be interested because it just wasn’t a big enough budgeted project. So we hung our head and wandered the streets because he really was our ideal for this role. Then a couple of weeks, later we got a phone call from our casting director who just said, “Tony Todd is in, he wants to do the movie.” And we said, “You mean, he wants to talk to us about it?” and she said “No, he’s in, he’s doing it because he loved the script and is dead set on making it happen.” The amazing thing about this group of actors and how professional they are is that they pretty much all said they didn’t want to stray to far from the material.

Arguably stealing the film is Mark Hamill (pictured, below) in one of the most hilariously villainous turns in recent memory. Where did this character come from?

When Mark first read it, he thought the violence was so extreme. But then his kids got a hold of it and they told him, “Dad, if you don’t do this, don’t complain that you don’t get the roles that Malcolm McDowell or Steve Buscemi gets!” So he read it again and read it in character, allowing the devious side of the character to take over, then came to us and said, “Oh, I get it! I’m the comic relief!” He’d mentioned he wanted to do like a Truman Capote thing, very flamboyant and high-pitched, which I was fine with, even though it was written more as a Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon type of thing. Mark blended the two and came up with this bizarre character. He walked this fine line between the comedic and the over-the-edge sadistic.

Some may argue that the role that the role of Sushi Girl, bravely played by Cortney Palm, is a very submissive, even exploitative one. She’s naked, unable to react to all the violent machismo around here.

The idea was to have a completely vulnerable character as the eyes and ears in this scenario, sort of (the audiences) window into what was going on.  In that regard, she was 100% crucial to the story. And I purposefully wanted to have the naked girl in the movie to make a statement about exploitation in general. What would be more exploitative than a naked girl covered in sushi with all these violent guys in the room attacking each other and she can’t do anything about it. Remember, if she moves she’s dead, there’ll tear her apart, so we went from there.

Essentially a single-setting film, how did your camera create drama and tension within four walls? What filmmaking techniques did you need to employ to bring energy to the setting?

We broke up big scenes into little mini sections and concentrated on giving every little self-contained scene a different vibe. Everything existed under the same umbrella, as it were, but we wanted to create the feeling that each scene represented a different setting. We wanted to shoot chronologically, as well, because things do get messy and we wanted to show progression, where things started out a lot prettier and softer but is stripped down by the end, where things have gotten very gritty and grimy.

Yes, it does get messy. What boundaries and principles did you apply to your use of violence in the film?

I was of the mind that the best way to present the audience with horrific types of violence is to say ‘less is more’. Back in the 1970s, which is a period of filmmaking that I reference specifically in this film, the mechanical effects were not nearly as good as they are today, where you get lots of practical effects, often melded with CGI. Yeah, it might be shocking in the short term, but in the long run it just doesn’t impact anymore. What I wanted to make sure was that the violence in Sushi Girl was not fun, but that it was devastating and horrifying. The ideas we employ are really very caustic and I think that is what has gotten under people’s skin. We applied the approach that Hitchcock took with Psycho, in that a lot of what you think you see is actually done with editing and framing. When people say, “Oh, it’s so violent”, I take that as a compliment because it means it has been effective. It means they don’t like feeling that sensation.

Kern Saxton will appear with writer/producer Destin Pfaff and cast members Tony Todd, Noah Hathaway, James Duval and Andy McKenzie at the Australian premiere of Sushi Girl on April 19 and the panel discussion Slice and Dice on April 21 at the Gold Coast Film Festival; the Sushi Girl team will also be appearing at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo, April 19-21, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

SKIN FLICK: THE ERIC FALARDEAU INTERVIEW

Thanatomorphose exists within that realm of cinematic visions that challenges even the most ardently cynical of moviegoers. The debut feature from Canadian writer/director Eric Falardeau, it tells the story of a lonely artist (model/actress Kayden Rose) whose body begins to undergo post-mortem decay whilst she is still alive. Like Lynch's Eraserhead or Cronenberg's Rabid, it is a nightmarish work of consummate horror, though also deeply moving. A thoughtful man with an encyclopedic knowledge of the body-horror genre, Falardeau spoke with SCREEN-SPACE about his grotesque but beautiful film...

The artist in Thanatomorphose finds a potent sexuality as her condition worsens. How do interpret the co-existence of these two elements in your work and the horror genre overall?

It is an interesting question because while I was doing researches for Thanatomorphose I’ve found out that there are several states of mind in the mourning process, either when you lost someone or know that you will die. One of the typical reactions a large amount of people tend to have is an increase of their libido to counterbalance the impending death, which is very interesting when you work in the horror genre. It is as if life was fighting death right until the end. And for me it made sense that the main character in my film, who is kind of death inside, slowly comes back to life while her body decays. Her own materiality makes her aware of her existence and that was one of the many aspect I wanted to explore in the film.

Regarding the horror genre overall, sex has always been an important element of the genre for many reasons starting with the transgressive quality inherent to both subjects. I did my Master’s thesis on body fluids in gore and pornography. Both genre focused on the body as a cinematic object and consequently share similar ways of filming and types of storytelling. A lot of renowned directors have made the parallel in their films before me (David Cronenberg, Jörg Büttgereit, Dario Argento to name a few) but I wanted to push this to its logical extremes. Sex, or more aptly reproduction, is the only answer to death.   

We’re only that: flesh and blood. Sex is how we came in the world. Then we die. Between the two, we try to cope with the meaningless of our existence by telling stories and doing what we believe are the best things. In the end, we’re only organic matters, coming from nothing and going back to nothing.

Tell me about the on-set environment. It looked to be a bleak, dark, confined space. Was there ever moments when the relentless nature of the horror or the content of a scene made the work day tough?

That was one of my main tools as a director to put the actors and the crew in the right mood. We had a lot of fun shooting the film but by the end we were all exhausted as much by the work as by the psychological state the film putted us in. I think it shows in the film, the acting, the bleakness, etc.

I think that to properly write, direct, and edit a film you must be in the right emotional state, the one that corresponds to the feeling you’re trying to convey. It must come from the heart. If you don’t feel it as the creator, I highly doubt that you’ll make the right choices. As the great editor Walter Murch once said, emotion is the first rule to follow when editing a film and I think that goes for all the other aspects of production.

The hardest part when making that kind of film is always how much of yourself you put in it and how much darkness in yourself you have to get out to get the proper tone and feeling. That requires a lot of energy.

And, extending the last question, tell me of the relationship between actress and director on a film like Thanatomorphose. You asked Kayden to go to some very dark places in this role, which would have required a huge amount of shared faith and trust.

Kayden and I discussed a lot in pre-production about what I wanted and how I wanted to shoot to get it. She knew that it was going to be difficult. I gave her references to see and feel what Thanatomorphose was about: movies (from Buttgereit’s Nekromantik 2 to Grandrieux’s La vie Nouvelle), books (Camus, Kafka, Dostoeivski), and music (Silver Mount-Zion and the Guild of Funerary Violins). She understood exactly what I was aiming for. She was exhausted but she kept giving all that she had. It was impressive.

We shot the film in chronological order over a 21 days period. We did that for 2 reasons: continuity and special effects. But I think it helped her in feeling the same way as the character, to be as exhausted as the character. It comes across when watching the movie.

Why is ‘body-horror’ still such an effective subset of the horror genre? Why are even the most hardened horror watchers still rattled by scenes of decomposition or body fluids?

For me, great horror films always use the body as an excuse to talk about something else, be it our fears or our human condition. Every body horror film is about the body as an object, a commodity. How do we treat our body and disconnect ourselves of it in the process. And how do we reconnect to ourselves trough our body. Thanatomorphose is a body horror existential film and I had to shoot it in respect to the subject. Horror cinema is one of the most visual genre. It is all about bodies, textures, organic matters, and it main subject is ourselves. What interest me – and I think what interest a lot of horror watchers - is the human condition and this genre allows to explore it in the most extreme ways. 

SPACE MAN: THE ARMEN EVRENSEL INTERVIEW

Journeying from Whistler, British Columbia, to the furthest reaches of the galaxy may seem a tad ambitious for a first-time feature filmmaker. But for Canadian native Armen Evrensel (pictured, below; far right, directing star Kristen Kreuk), the auteur behind the high-concept/low-budget science-fiction comedy Space Milkshake, the voyage was inevitable.

“I drew on what I loved most in the sci-fi genre,” Evrensel tells SCREEN-SPACE via email from his home in the Great White North. “A huge inspiration was Dark Star, the John Carpenter, Dan O'Bannon low budget masterpiece. I think it deserves a lot more credit as the prequel to Alien.” Also citing the likes of Scorsese, Lynch, Kurosawa and Werner Herzog as heroes (“I’ve been meaning to rewatch Herzog’s Nosferatu”), the fanboy-at-heart melded pop-culture iconography to tell the story of the outer-space garbage ship caught in a life-or-death struggle with a villainous slug-like alien and a shifting time-space continuum.

“In doing some homework I discovered the fascinating spider web of collaborations between of many of the sci-fi artists, writers and directors of the 60 through the 80s, and how so many of my favorites had found ways to work together,” he says, also acknowledging the lasting impact of tomes such as the Dark Horse Alien comics and authors such as the late Jean Giraud (aka Moebius).

That said, he is quick to point out that his Saskatchewan-shot debut, starring recognizable genre faces such as Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), George Takei (Star Trek) and Kristen Kreuk (Smallville), is very much a singular vision. “There is a lot of reference and homage in there, some hidden and some really on the surface, but it was always my firm goal to avoid making the film itself a homage, or worse, a parody,” says Evrensel (pictured, right; on-set). “My goal was to make it stand alone, proudly unapologetic as a low budget sci-fi comedy, and have a story non sci-fi fans could enjoy as well.”

Just how low-budget is hard to determine, as the film has a polished sheen and ironic B-movie nods that hardly indicate monetary stress. But Evrensel is not shying away from the effort it took for him and his crew to get his vision on screen. “If you knew the budget we had for things like props and costumes, you'd really appreciate the miracles that our crew pulled off,” he says. “The trick for the film was to avoid predicating the drama on anything that was expensive, like smoke and fire and explosions and instead to do as much with performances as possible.”

The experience has led to a steep learning curve in industry practices (“Getting sales in a marketplace that tends to compartmentalize films is a challenge right now”) but Evrensel is buoyed by enthusiasm from the genre crowd. “We're getting great responses from the festival circuit,” he says, stressing that young filmmakers should do all they can to hone their craft then present it with elan.

“Tell a strong story with interesting characters and prove yourself with whatever tools you have at hand,” Evrensel imparts, referencing forgotten shorts from the likes of Kubrick and Scorsese as inspiration. “If you do your homework and raise the flag for a well planned, well written project, you will find support in the film industry. Make stuff you are proud of and you'll probably become the kind of director that other people will want to work with.”

Read the SCREEN-SPACE review of Space Milkshake, which screens at the A Night of Horror/Fantastic Planet Film Festival on Thursday April 11 at 9.00pm

THE SHORT FILM THAT SAVED JANE CAMPION.

For Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, the environment in which her key protagonists exist is as crucial to her narratives as her characters and the actors who play them.

Her latest project, the highly-anticipated TV mini-series Top of the Lake (pictured, above), features breathtaking South Island locations from her native New Zealand. The city of Queenstown and several vivid, remote wilderness regions of the Otago district are utilised to stunning effect. At the other end of her homeland you will find the majestic cliffs and fierce seas of Karekare Beach, in the Waitakere district of Auckland on the North Island, used to symbolic perfection in her breakout film, 1993s The Piano.

But it is in The Water Diary, a little-seen short film that was part of the 2006 portmanteau film 8, that Campion most directly addresses her landscape. The project, which also featured directorial efforts from Gael Garcia Bernal, Gus Van Sant, Mira Nair, Wim Wenders and Gaspar Noe, came to fruition under the guidance of French producer Marc Oberon. It was Oberon’s aim to provide artistic support to United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals, a vast humanitarian endeavour designed to eradicate such dire social ills as poverty, hunger and child mortality by 2015.

Campion immersed herself in an Australian outback scorched by drought and the tensions it brings to a young family living on the land. Seen largely through the eyes of two early-teen daughters, The Water Diary puts a stark, honest face on the social impact on the rural sector of extended dry periods. Filmed at Nimmitabel in the New South Wales southern highlands with a beautifully detailed visual acuity courtesy of DOP Greig Fraser (Bright Star; Zero Dark Thirty), it is heartbreaking study in the consequences on real people of our leaders refusal to address the changing climate.

Jane Campion had undertaken a self-imposed exile after the troubled shoot and subsequent commercial failure of her American effort, In The Cut. The 8 project would inspire her to write again and return to the director’s chair. Proving to be a turning point in her career, she would go on to receive some of the best notices of her career for 2009s Bright Star, a Palme d’Or nominee. That film's success afforded her the confidence and artistic freedom to write (with longtime collaborator Gerard Lee) and direct (with Garth Davis) the 300 minute-long Top of the Lake (pictured, right; Campion directing star Elisabeth Moss). Following it’s jubilant Sundance premiere, trade paper The Hollywood Reporter called Top of the Lake, “…an edgy, disturbing and altogether first-rate crime drama.”

Tellingly, one Top of the Lake review noted in particular Campion’s use of the setting to convey mystery and foreboding. “The landscape,” wrote Robert Lloyd in the Los Angeles Times, “which is huge and powerful and makes mites of men, does much of the work for her.” It suggests that Campion, reunited with the creative energy she draws from her picturesque settings, is back on solid ground as one of world cinema’s most compelling directors.

Following a screening of the first two episodes of Top of the Lake, Jan Campion and Gerard Lee will front a Q&A session at the Cremorne Orpheum Cinema this Wednesday, March 20. Tickets available via the Popcorn Taxi website and at the venue.

HOLLYWOOD GRIND: THE MICHAEL BIEHN INTERVIEW

If you are a forty-something male with even a passing interest in film, Michael Biehn needs no introduction. The lean, physical actor has crafted a highly respected body of work in Hollywood since his debut opposite Cathy Lee Crosby in 1978s high-school comedy, Coach. Now, he has taken on multi-hyphenated auteur status with the grimy, grindhouse shocker, The Victim.

Fate has dictated that A-list fame would prove elusive for the Alabama native. He passed on the Kathryn Bigelow films Near Dark and Point Break; was cast as the lead in James Cameron’s take on Spiderman only to have the project collapse; and, got to the final two for the role ultimately played by Stephen Lang in Avatar. Regardless, Biehn will be forever remembered for a series of action film performances in the 80s and 90s that left an indelible imprint on the key movie-going demographic. Most notable amongst them were his collaborations with directors James Cameron (The Terminator; Aliens; The Abyss), William Friedkin (Rampage; Jade), Franc Roddam (The Lords of Discipline; K2), Michael Bay (The Rock) and Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror). His seething villain ‘Johnny Ringo’ from the George P Cosmatos western, Tombstone, is an audience favourite.

He has a particular fondness for Australia, having worked with director Carl Schultz (Blue Fin; Travelling North, Careful He Might Hear You) on the 1988 apocalyptic thriller, The Seventh Sign (pictured, right, with co-stars Jurgen Prochnow and Demi Moore). “I thought Carl did a great job directing that movie,” says the 55 year-old, talking to SCREEN-SPACE from his Los Angeles office.  “It was a movie that was not marketed properly. Sometimes you make a movie that is a great work but, for whatever reason, just can’t find an audience. But a lot of people come up and talk to me about that film, saying how much it means to them. I’m very proud of that film.”

Having established the production company BlancBiehn with his creative partner and wife Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, he was under no illusion that The Victim was any kind of ground-breaking vision. “It was so small and we had such a small amount of money, we just wanted to make this little grindhouse, exploitation movie,” he says of the film, which has played prestigious genre festivals such as SITGES, Horrorfest and Fantasia. “I wrote it in three weeks and during that time we also did pre-production on it. We rolled that into a twelve day shoot, working twelve hour days.”

Biehn also takes on acting duties as backwoods loner Kyle Limato, a dark figure happiest when humanity is kept at arms length. His life is upended when a scratched and muddy stripper named Annie (played by Blanc-Biehn) screams for help late one night; her friend, Mary (Danielle Harris) has been killed in a particularly graphic bout of rough, outdoor sex (the film opens on the act, so be warned) and Annie is a witness. Complicating things are the identity of the killers – two corrupt cops, played by Biehn’s friends Ryan Honey and Denny Kirkwood.

The shoot was tough, he readily admits, but having worked with the reputedly volatile likes of Bay, Friedkin and Cameron (pictured, right, on the Aliens set with Biehn and actor Ricco Ross), Biehn knew how to crack the whip when needed. “If you took the three of them and wrapped them together on their worst day, that would’ve been me when shooting The Victim,” he says with a laugh. “We were literally running from shot to shot, with me screaming the entire time. Not at anyone for anything they did wrong, but just ‘Get out of the way’ and ‘Who’s talking?’ and ‘Shut the fuck up’, stuff like that.”

Most mainstream critics have not warmed to the film’s grunginess, but genre sites are trumpeting The Victim. “Frankly, I never even thought it would be reviewed,” says Biehn, genuinely humbled by the acceptance the film recieved. “It got reviewed by the New York Times and I’m like ‘What!’ I couldn’t believe it. It played the genre festivals and it started getting good review after good review through outlets like Ain’t It Cool News and Huffington Post and San Francisco Chronicle.”

The film’s success has been reinvested into their production company, which has several new projects set to shoot. Especially ambitious is an English-language remake of the acclaimed Chilean thriller, Hidden in the Woods. Biehn has shown tremendous faith in the original director, Patricio Valladares, taking him on to helm the Americanized version. “He is very young and enthusiastic and I want him to make it in English,” Biehn says.

Such bold commitments fit well with the BlancBiehn business plan (pictured, right, Biehn and partner, Jennifer Blanc-Biehn). “We are focussed on making small movies now, quality films but films that can also turn a profit. We grew tired of going out on casting calls or just waiting to be called in for acting gigs,” he says. “We’ve created this company so that we can make all our own calls and make our own movies. Maybe, if we make enough of them, we can one day make a big one. Or maybe not, because making these small ones are a lot of fun.” 

Transmission Films will release The Victim in Australia on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on March 27.