here’s something strange about this sunny, seemingly perfect
American suburb. Adults wear braces on their teeth, drive golf
carts and wear co-ordinated outfits of pink, purple and blue. Written,
directed by and starring Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, Greener
Grass sits somewhere between satire and surrealism. The inciting
incident comes as Jill (DeBoer) and Lisa (Luebbe) watch their children
play soccer. After lamenting the murder of a local yoga teacher, Lisa
admires Jill’s new baby. Eager to please, Jill impulsively hands over the
baby as a gift.
The intrigue and motor of Greener Grass comes from the question
of how much these serene automatons have in common with actual
humans. While The Stepford Wives is an obvious source of comparison,
in this suburb the pressure is less about gender conformity and more
about having learned a pathological politeness while true feelings flail
out of reach. Jill has regrets about handing over her baby – an event
which precipitates the collapse of her entire life – but is too polite
to insist on its return, especially as Lisa acts offended whenever she
broaches the subject.
An eerie and ever-present John Carpenter-esque electronic score
by Samuel Nobles amps up the sense of alienation and melancholy,
undercutting performances that are sincerely pitched in their
acceptance of absurd goings on. There are no winks to camera, just people
doing their best within a world where only surface communication flies,
even when feverish eyes tell a different story. DeBoer excels in the lead
role, managing to deepen Jill’s mania though purely physical tells as her
dialogue delivery remains consistently sweet and sympathetic. Humour
and desperation stem from the same source in this stifling setting:
everyone’s inability to say what they mean. SOPHIE MONKS KAUFMAN
ANTICIPATION. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe are
veterans of the comedy troupe, Upright Citizens Brigade.
ENJOYMENT.
A hypnotic watch, yet hard to pin down.
IN RETROSPECT. Too abstract for satire, too grounded
for sci-fi – this is one strange world.
horeditch in East London was one of the urban areas most impacted
by the 2012 Summer Olympic games. Not surprisingly, all those
renovations, improvements in infrastructure and newly minted amenities
simply led to increased gentrification and spikes in house prices. As is often
the case, the most vulnerable and underrepresented communities were
pushed further to the fringes of society.
Here for Life gives many of these people a dynamic platform, merging
elements of documentary, confessional and poetry to put their voices
centerstage. Members of the theatrical collective Cardboard Citizens,
created in 1991 by the film’s co-director, Adrian Jackson, participate in
fragmented live readings and intimate interviews stitched together with
lo-fi footage of their everyday lives. Both Jackson and fellow co-director
Andrea Luka Zimmerman are key players in London’s experimental
art scene, and their nimble film beautifully exemplifies the possibilities
of a medium detached from limits of narrative or convention. Within
this fluid, even ghostly framework, Here for Life confronts the nuances
of performance and trauma, turning individual memory into a shared
experience. Sometimes, the actors even swap lines and roles, all of which
are based on past hardships and tragedy.
While these moments vary in length and effectiveness, each reflects the
many layers inferred by Kamby Kamara’s reflexive aside: “You have been
uniquely designed to play you.” Jackson and Zimmerman let these words
function as guiding light, accumulating seemingly disconnected moments
that build momentum toward a rousing final public performance. It’s hard to
forget the weathered faces of Here for Life. They may have been abandoned
by progress, but never by art. In so many ways, the film becomes a mosaic of
their experiences, producing the kind of raw, frayed vulnerability one might
associate with the cinema of Claire Denis. GLENN HEATH JRANTICIPATION. A new experimental doc
from the co-director of Erase and Forget.ENJOYMENT. Elliptical hybrid capturing
the voices of East London’s local artists.IN RETROSPECT. A remarkably nimble meditation on
performance and vulnerability.Here for Life
Directed by ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN, ADRIAN JACKSON
Starring JO GALBRAITH, JAKE GOODE,
RICHARD HONEYGHAN
Released 21 NOVEMBERS
Greener Grass
Directed by JOCELYN DEBOER, DAWN LUEBBE
Starring JOCELYN DEBOER, DAWN LUEBBE,
BECK BENNETT
Released 22 NOVEMBERT
076 REVIEW