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Now playing at the Coolidge Corner Theater is Beeswax, the third feature from Boston-based director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation).
The film stars newcomers Tilly and Maggie Hatcher; twin sisters who essentially play themselves, as the story examines their special relationship. Jeannie (played by Tilly), introverted and confined to a wheel chair, co-owns a vintage clothing store in Austin, Texas. Lauren (played by Maggie), extroverted and eager to travel, plans to leave for Africa. And in the middle of this is their friend, Merrill, played by Alex Karpovsky. He's studying for the bar exam and glad to divert his attention to helping the sisters navigate a rough patch in their lives.
After a recent screening of Beeswax at the Coolidge, Bujalski discussed the making of the film with members of the audience. Q: Is there a peculiar problem with people our age? Or is there just a peculiar problem with these characters? Are you trying to show society as rotten to the core?
ANDREW BUJALSKI: No. [He laughs] I think everybody just hast their own peculiar dysfunction. My peculiar dysfunction are probably not exactly the same as yours, although I'm sure there's a little overlap. I never set out to do that with any of my films. It's interesting in that so much of what's written about these films, for better and or worse, is cultural criticism. Leave the context of whatever movement in Cinema this movie may or may not be apart of aside, I've never set out to make a sociological statement.
Q: It's always about individuals, wouldn't you say?
BUJALSKI: Yes, it's always about individuals. It's very low to the ground in my mind. When I sit down to work on movies, I'm trying to think about characters as specifically as I can, and situations as specifically as I can. I try to follow through with making the film that way. I've never, ever sat down and thought, What's the statement that needs to be made about a generation? I feel like that's a critics job, and it's not my job. I haven't set approached my job as an artist through the eyes of a critic. [continue reading] 
 Tonight (Friday, August 7th) and tomorrow (Saturday, August 8th) at midnight, The Coolidge Corner Theater screens Humpday - Director Lynn Shelton’s Sundance Award winning film about two regulars guys who want to make an irregular artistic statement: a porn film unlike any other. Beanywood recently spoke with Lynn about the making of her film… BEANYWOOD: Can you tell us about the inception of the film, how did you begin putting things in motion? LYNN SHELTON: I started with Mark Duplass, who I really wanted to work with. I pitched him the premise of the project. It was really loose. I actually saw him in the Andrew role, originally, and he immediately said he wanted to play the domesticated guy, because that’s the sort of how he’s living. He was sharing sort of a kinship with that guy because he was newly married and about to give birth to a baby, their first kid. And as soon as he said that, I knew it. I initially saw him in the adventurer role, and so he’d be like the charismatic one. So I said to him, “Now I need to find someone as charismatic as you, because that changes the whole power dynamic I had in my head between the two characters. And he thought of Joshua, and introduced us. And I thought that they were just such a great match. There were just always sort of dead even, you know? BEANYWOOD: Do you prefer to work with your actors very early in the process? SHELTON: Yes, always. I invited them in very early into the process, very similar to my film [My] Effortless Brilliance, in the way that I involved the actors in the development of their own characters, so that they could bring even more naturalism. And then as I get to know who the characters are, then I can cement what’s going to be happening in the movie, in the plot, in each scene; the arc of each scene and how each scene will feed into the next and so on. So when we show up on set we have this very structured outline. I want the naturalism of the improvisation, but I don’t want … I also wanted to make a very movie-going experience. BEANYWOOD: Mark, he is all about the naturalization of it. That’s what he brings. I think that’s his special thing. I don’t know how else to describe it. But that’s what he’s done in his other stuff. It would be interesting to see the other stuff he came up with that you had to cut, either because it was really good and it didn’t work, or it didn’t simply tie in to where the movie was going. But he comes up with terrific, character-defining things. SHELTON: There’s plenty of it, yes. But I wanted it to be a tight film. I wanted it to have a strong narrative drive. I wanted it to have that sense that a scene ends when it should end, and then it leaves you really curious to see what’s going to happen next. That whole kind of movie going experience and sensation, you know? At the same time that it feels like it’s actually unfolding right in front of you. [continue reading] |
