ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Podcast

Fragile Dreams: 1on1 with Jack Mulhern (ODD MAN RUSH)

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While all sports have their passionate diehards, Jack Mulhern knows there’s something special about hockey fans.

Whether their home team has just won the Stanley Cup or if they’ve gone over 50 years without winning it all (sigh, sorry Leafs), hockey seems to connect deeply with the soul of its fans in ways that other sports don’t. As the star of the new hockey rom-com Odd Man Rush, Mulhern believes that what continues to draw people to the sport is the combative nature of the game and the offbeat personalities of the players.

“It’s gladiatorial [and] a very physical sport,” he considers. “We’re very clannish kind of a species. We like to duke it out with the neighbors, you know? I think there’s that. I think also [people are passionate about the sport] because, from my limited experience, hockey players are nuts, but in the best way. They’re like a bunch of loons, but they’re like really good guys. I guess it’s like this a lot of the time with a lot of really serious athletes. They’re really good, wholesome people that are just insane because they’ve pursued it so far that they’re just kind of caught in all these rituals and all these quirks of being. They’re fun, little character studies being around, specifically, hockey players.” 

Odd Man Rush, tells the story of Bobby Sanders (Mulhern), a young hockey player who dreams of playing in the NHL. When his young career ends with more surgeries than goals, Bobby finds himself playing in the European minor leagues. Moving from team to team (and traded for a washer/dryer combo), Bobby lives his life in a constant state of change. Things begin to turn around for him when he finally lands in Sweden and meets Elin (Elektra Jansson Kilby), a check out girl who helps him to confront the reality of his childhood dreams. 

Though he had some experience in the world of hockey in his youth, star Jack Mulhern found the most relatable aspect of his character was his journey slugging it out in the trenches in order to achieve success.

“I played in middle school and followed the Rangers a little bit because I’m from New York, but I’m not [a] crazy [fan],” he explains. “Luckily again, there was a lot of people that are the real deal. Dylan [Playfair] is the real deal. Bill [Keenan], obviously, and a bunch of the other guys. I could lean on them whenever I had any questions. Other than that though, there were a lot of parallels in terms of being sort of a young, ambitious guy jumping around in the minor leagues, chasing this dream to being a young actor, jumping around from gig to gig to gig. So, I found a lot of parallels there, you know?”

When Odd Man Rush provided the opportunity to revisit the hockey world, Mulhern became excited to hit the ice once again. Training with co-star Dylan Playfair, he took every opportunity that he had in the brief preparation time to reacquaint himself with the sport.

“I think I had maybe two weeks after I jumped off of this to go back,” he recalls. “Luckily, I had some equipment downstairs. Weirdly enough (or serendipitously), the previous year I was in a pilot that was close to going and one of the themes is that the character played hockey. So, I started going out to Chelsea Piers and playing pick up again, breaking in some skates and stuff like that. So, weirdly, I started that process a year before and, when this happened, I kind of was ready to go. I showed up a week in advance [to get] as much time as I could get together and Dylan was out there. He stayed with me every single day leading up to the beginning of production. So, shout out to Dylan. He’s the best.”

While Odd Man Rush may be a romantic comedy, it still takes its hockey responsibilities seriously. Giving the film an added sense of pedigree, the cast features numerous former players/coaches, including members of hockey’s royal families in Trevor Gretzky and Alexa Lemieux. As a relative newcomer to the hockey scene, Mulhern feels that the opportunity to work with people who have lived in that world reminded him what a rabid fan-base the sport carries with it.

“Trevor [Gretzky]’s a great guy. I really like him,” Mulhern begins. “I think what I took away was the reactions to those kids of those legends is how much [people care], which makes perfect sense because it’s Gretzky and Lemieux that we’re talking about. People really care. There’s a cult of personality around it. Same thing with Dylan. Dylan’s on this great show called Letterkenny. We’d be practicing a lot or shooting in a lot of rinks and, off the rink, crowds would form slowly of these other guys practicing and rotating in and out on different rinks in whatever facility we were at. So, every single time we’d get out, we’d be mobbed by people. So, hockey fans are the real deal. You don’t want to piss off hockey fans.”

Whether in sports or the arts, films that showcase dreamers who yearn to make it in the big leagues often highlight the joy of ultimately reaching their goal.  However, while Odd Man Rush does mimic some of these tropes, it also looks at the fragility of those dreams in the face of injuries and the simple realities of playing professional hockey. 

“The downside is ostracizing the people in your life by becoming a kind of a shell of a person because you’re so consumed with satisfying this sort of abstract ambition that you have for yourself,” Mulhern reflects. “It puts a lot of strains on the relationships, not just because of travel and because you’re busy all the time, but because you’re so consumed that you kind of can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s the same thing in acting, I’m sure (or at least the connection that I made into the character). You sort of forsake life in the pursuit of life. That’s the ambition trap, and it’s something I’ve been trying to navigate for these past four or five years that I’ve been doing this for a living too. I haven’t quite gotten it dialed yet but I’m getting better though.”

“Ultimately, none of it matters if you don’t have peace of mind [or] if you’re a miserable person,” he continues. “You could be the most successful person in the world and it’s all for not. When you will have paid such a hefty price to get somewhere, and all this stuff that really matters is gone by the time you get there. [That’s] not to say that everybody that ever satisfies the full extent of their dream and makes it to the NHL is a hollow shell of a person. But I find that those people that last, are [the ones that mind] their P’s and their Q’s. They know what matters, and they’re able to juggle things in a mature way.”

With the film’s emphasis on dreaming big, Odd Man Rush features a brief but important subplot where a very young Bobby writes a letter to his future adult self. Asked what he would say if he were given the chance to speak to his childhood self, Mulhern believes that he would likely encourage young Jack to make the most of every moment early in order to pursue his ultimate goal.

“Everything that I did or was involved in kind of got me to where I’m at now and it’s necessary,” he says. “I think I do regret [that] I didn’t want to be much of anything until I was in my twenties and I was forced to, because I was so down. If I could go back, things like education and all of these things are really just a consolidated group of resources. So, what I would advise myself or to any young person going through it is that, as much as you might think it sucks, try to be about the business now of finding those things that you’re really passionate about. Pursue it while you have the youth and the time to really kind of make the most out of everything around you and go to school for it too. That would be my advice.” 

Since his experience on Odd Man Rush gave Mulhern the chance to rekindle an interest in a sport that has eluded him since his childhood, it’s fun for him to envision who he would like to play alongside. Were he given the opportunity to pick a fictional three-man roster of his own, Mulhern offered some surprising and unique choices.

“I liked [Brian] Gionta on the [New Jersey] Devil’s, back when I was playing. I liked him because I was short and he was smaller, really scrappy and a good player. So Gionta and [Henrik] Lunquist ‘tending. And Gretzky. Shout out to Trevor’s dad.”

For complete audio of our conversation with Jack Mulhern, click here.

Odd Man Rush is available on VOD now.

Laughing All the Way Home: 1on1 with Jemaine Clement (I USED TO GO HERE)

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As a comedy veteran himself, Clement knows what’s funny.

Having worked on such hilarious projects as What We Do in the Shadows, MIB:3 and, of course, Flight of the Concords, Clement argues that the best comedies of today are those that commit to their worldviews.

“At the moment, I feel like [great comedy is] believing what you say,” he begins. “Even if I don’t agree with a comedian still, if I can see that [they] believe it or the movie believes that, it’s committing, I think.”

Starring with Gillian Jacobs in the new comedy, I Used to Go Here, Clement was excited to dive into the role of David, a college professor looking for a fresh start. Though he was excited for the opportunity to work with Jacobs, he found this project particularly appealing because it felt like the type of stories that he enjoyed watching in his youth.

“[I Used to Go Here] reminded me of films [that] I used to go and see when I was a student,” he explains. “It’s like having a window into someone’s life and maybe [at a] trying time for them in a personal way where other people can’t relate to it… It’s an awful time for you, but it doesn’t sound bad for anyone else so people don’t generally talk about them. [laughs]. Then, in some ways, I found the story of the Gillian’s character story quite relatable. It was funny and Gillian’s really funny. I knew she was going to do it so I was excited to meet with her as well.” 

Written and directed by Kris Rey, I Used to Go Here tells the story of Kate Conklin (Jacobs), a young author about to release her debut novel. When her book receives less-than-stellar reviews, Kate is hurt and frustrated by the response. After she receives an invitation from her former professor and old crush, David (Clement), to speak at her alma mater, Kate jumps at the chance return to her old college as a published author. However, as she revisits her past haunts and relationships, she soon begins to slide back into her old life as a student with all its misadventures and misplaced feelings for her former professor.

Clement’s enthusiasm for working with his co-star Jacobs is palpable onscreen as the two have genuine chemistry together. As David and Kate, the two veteran actors work well together, creating a unique relationship that shows the push and pull between them. In an interesting way, the two characters also seem to be mirror images of one another, even if one has initially escaped their home town.

“David’s character was once a promising author and then he got into this other job that’s taken a lot of his time,” Clement recognizes. “He’s basically trying to draw Kate into the that life to take some pressure off of him. So, he’s a possible future for her. Then, she judges David [for having an inappropriate relationship] and basically falls into the same pattern.” 

Though Jacobs’ character may be the film’s central focus, Go Here also features some hilarious performances from young actors like Josh Wiggins and Hannah Marks. While his character may not have interacted with the young cast very much, Clement also notes that the enthusiasm that they brought to the set served as a reminder for him the privilege that is to work in film.

“It’s mostly Gillian in this story, but [director] Kris found some other great actors and actresses, a lot of them local,” he clarifies. “There’s a lot of them from Chicago where we filmed and where Kris lives so that was another fun part of the film. It was great to see people really excited about being in a movie. Sometimes, you have to remind yourself of that. I didn’t get to act with the kids–I’ll call them the kids, even though they were all adults–I didn’t hang out with the kids very much because my character is talking all the time. Literally lecturing. So, I didn’t get to bounce off those guys very often. It was fun doing the lecture thing with Hannah Marks.” 

Considering David’s flaws, Clement believes that his character ultimately just wants to move on in his career and personal life.

“I think he’s looking for some kind of a way out of there, you know?,” he states. “In academia, I think it’s sometimes seems a bit like that. When I see professors from the university where I went 26 years ago, they still look the same, say the same things, give the same lectures for years and answer the same questions. I think, sometimes, that’s rewarding and sometimes frustrating. I think you can see both of those.”

With this in mind, one of the key themes of Go Here is the (sometimes) overpowering nature of nostalgia. Asked what keeps drawing us back to our past seems to be, Clement argues that the appeal lies in our ability to reflect on the positive experiences at the expense of the negatives.

“Often, the way your brain works is you tend to forget the bad things,” he begins. “If you’ve ever been in a relationship, stopped that relationship and then go back to [it], you remember, ‘Oh, that’s right. We used to do this and she used to say that. I used to always reply to this’. I think it’s just that you forget the complexity of things and you remember the good things. I didn’t have the same experience with my college years. I wanted to learn about theater and film and I had a really bad time in my department. I can see my university from [my home] and I cringe at the idea of going there… I didn’t finish my degree and every time I think, ‘I should do those few papers’. Then, I look at the building and I go ‘No, no, no’. [laughs] I don’t want to be that old dude now either. That weird old dude in the class.” 

Though his background may be in comedy, Clement’s has been always excited to be a part of high-profile blockbusters when the opportunity arises. More specifically, his next role will take place on the famed CGI planet of Pandora in James Cameron’s sequel to Avatar. Drenched in secrecy, Clement notes that even he is surprised by the incredible security that the project carries with it.

“We’re filming after these interviews,” he beams. “I know I’m in [Avatar 2]. IMDB has me in up to [the fifth movie] or something like that. Even I was like, ‘am I?’ [laughs] I can’t tell you that much. It’s very secretive. We haven’t been filming over this how COVID pandemic, but they’ve started again because New Zealand’s back and working. I have a scene tomorrow and I go in today. My scripts in a vault and they’ll take my script out of the vault and then I’ll read it and try and learn it there. Then, it goes back in the vault and I go again tomorrow and then I’ll take it out of the vault again.”

Though he’s spent most of his career working on smaller films, working on major projects such as the Avatar sequel are always exciting opportunities for the actor. For example, Clement is always thrilled to work with high profile directors like James Cameron who have inspired his career.

“I’ve mostly done smaller films but, often with the biggest films, what’s made me interested as the director who maybe has done some films I’ve loved,” Clement grins. “Terminator 2 was one of my favorite film experiences I’ve ever had, when I was 15 or whatever I was. It’s hard for me to resist asking Jim, Terminator Two stories all the time. I only do about one a week. [laughs] I would ask after every time how they did certain special effects and The Abyss and things like that. He’s someone who’s quite an imaginative person and gets to make whatever he wants at this level. That’s what it feels like to me.” 

For full audio of our conversation with Jemaine Clement, click here.

I Used to Go Here is available on demand now.

Finding Her Voice: 1on1 with Kalia Love Jones (THE POWER OF HOPE)

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It doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone is looking for hope.

Written and directed by 13-year-old Kalia Love Jones, The Power of Hopeis an animated short that tells the inspirational story of a young woman who has big dreams of becoming an architect. When her mother becomes ill, she feels overwhelmed and helpless. However, after hearing a powerful speech by former First Lady Michelle Obama, she is inspired to find the strength to persevere and bring her dreams to life.

As a first-time filmmaker, Jones says that she wanted to both encourage diversity in the filmmaking world while, at the same time, creating a story that was relatable to as many people as possible.


“I made the film because I want to see more diversity in film,” Jones begins. “I want to see more people of color and women in film, but the story was just something that I came up with. I wanted The Power of Hope to be something that was relatable. I wanted it to be as relatable as possible [so that], when [people] would watch it, they would feel inspired.” 

Creating a film at any age is always a difficult process. However, featuring sharp animation and visuals, Power of Hope is an incredible first step for the young Jones. Though, with that in mind, one of the most difficult aspects of the film’s production to her was finding a team that was willing to work because of her youth.

“I think the biggest challenge in making this film was finding people to work on it because we’re so new to this industry,” Jones recalls. “We don’t know really anybody so finding someone to help us was really hard. We went to colleges and asked for animators or people that are working on the film. But it was really hard because nobody would want to work with a 13-year-old. After a few months of looking, we finally found some a crew and it all came together.”

Anchoring the film is the incredibly powerful speech by former First Lady Michelle Obama, which empowers the young protagonist to keep going when she faces tough times. While Obama wasn’t involved directly in the project, Jones wanted to use her words because of the incredible impact that the First Lady has had on her life.

“[Michelle Obama] didn’t work on this film herself,” Jones clarifies. “She was just a very big inspiration to me. I don’t think I would have felt inspired to have made a film without Michelle as my huge inspiration. I just love Michelle Obama. She’s a huge inspiration to me. So, I wanted to use her speech in the film.

In addition to Obama, Jones also takes the opportunity to pay homage to other women such as Awkwafina and Ava DuVernay in the end credits who she believes are worth looking to as motivation.

“I think all of them are there because they’re all inspiring to me,” she says. “They inspired me to make the film. So, I felt that they should be in the credits.” 

Asked where she believes the true power of hope lies, Jones contends that she thinks it stems from the encouraging words of others.

“I think the power [of hope is] the power to motivate someone to be successful [or] to take steps to get out of a hard place and get into a better one,” Jones explains. “It’s the power to motivate someone and make them feel inspired to overcome all the obstacles that get in their way.” 

“I think it’s hard to cling to hope when you’re facing adversity,” she continues. “That’s why I made this film because I wanted people to feel inspired when so they would feel hopeful for a better future and success they saw the film. I wanted them to feel hope so that they can overcome obstacles.”

For Jones, however, the most important thing is that people feel encouraged by the film to face difficult circumstances head on so that they can conquer their fears and be successful.

“I want people to feel inspired when they watch my film,” she reassures. “I want them to feel confident and brave, [so] they can feel like they can overcome all the obstacles that can come in their way and reach their goals.”

For audio of our interview with Kalia Love Jones, click here.

The Power of Hope premieres at the Shorts by the Sea Festival in September.

teenFish#11 – Reading WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS

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Welcome to teenFish, a podcast series that lets teenagers speak about media that matters to them in their own voice. Hosted by Daniel Collins (Infinity Warm-Up), teenFish airs every month and invites local youth to engage the truth and lies of the shows and films that excite them.

Based on the best-selling book, WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS is a story about mental health, trust and loving others (and yourself). As he enters his senior year of high school, Adam Petrazelli’s (Charlie Plumber) world is turned upside down when he’s diagnosed with severe mental illness. As he struggles to keep his new reality a secret from those around him, he also falls in love with a brilliant classmate who shows him what it means to be honest about who you are. This month, Daniel welcomes Rebecca and (old timer) Steve Norton to talk about struggling with mental health, perspective and loving others.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), or Spotify! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts or Google Play!

Life at a Distance

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Mandy Polzin and Rob Shade join us for a roundtable discussion about our post-pandemic, more-distanced lives.

Questions include: How are we experiencing doing work, school, church and life-in-general more remote, digital and online? What are the pros and cons of technologies like Zoom? Is there some sense in which church specifically needs to be physically present and in-person? What does the pandemic teach us about what humans are like? What perspective can our faith give us?

Also, FYI, Laura was not mad about Matt’s bad joke. She says “I’ll talk about hairstyles anytime you want 😀”

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Silencing Stereotypes and Celebrating Singleness: 1on1 with Andrea Dorfman (SPINSTER)

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When the world insists that satisfaction only lies in romance, something is broken.

While it’s true that romantic relationships can be exciting and life-giving, there’s little doubt that the pressure to ‘find love’ is everywhere. But is that really necessary to live a full and meaningful life? In her latest comedy Spinster, director Andrea Dorfman explores and celebrates what it means to be single when those around you think you’re missing out. 

Starring Cheslea Peretti (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Spinster tells the story of Gaby (Peretti), a woman on the brink of forty who is looking for love and struggling to find it. As all her friends seem focused on their marriages and children, Gaby’s greatest fear is that she’ll end up alone. After a string of bad dating experiences leaves her exhausted, Gaby realizes that something needs to change and she decides to focus on building a life of meaning and connectedness without focusing on romance. 

Involved in the project from the outset, Dorfman believes that the idea stemmed from her own life experiences and revelations about life. Having struggled within that moment where it felt like everyone else was getting married, she wanted to tell a story that pointed out that there’s more to life than settling down. 

“Every film is such a journey. It takes a long time to make,” she begins. “Spinster is my fourth feature film and it’s the second film I made with my creative collaborator, Jennifer Deyell, who wrote the film… We started working on it in 2014, and it’s been through many iterations of story and screen. Ultimately, at its heart, we wanted to tell the story of a woman who gets to a place where romance isn’t the solution to all of her problems and creates meaning in her life on her own terms. That is certainly based on my own experience in my 30s and people who Jennifer and I both knew who were single at a time when friends were all getting married and having kids and were really made to feel that maybe that life was not viable or lesser than. Then, getting to a point where it’s like, ‘No, actually what if this is the only life I have?’ So, I think the kernel or seed came from that time of life.” 

For the character of Gaby, Dorfman wanted a known actress and was thrilled when Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Chelsea Peretti joined the cast. Though the actress’ age was important to Dorfman for this particular role, she knew that Peretti was perfect for the role because of her ability to balance deadpan humour and heartfelt delivery.

“The character in the film is 39 and we wanted her to be [that age] because it’s sort of an ominous [time] for people who [care] about age, I guess,” she explains. “It’s sort of the brink of middle age. If you want to have kids and you’re a woman, that biological window is closing so 39 was an important age. It just so happens that, at 39, for women actors (especially known women in Hollywood), there are a lot of them who are not working. So, we decided that we wanted to have a known actor to help sell the film and, when we were working with the casting agent, it turned out that there were a lot of women actors at [the age of] 39 who were available. That’s just the sad reality of Hollywood and women actors and film.“

“Aside from that, I had seen Chelsea’s stand-up special on Netflix, even before I saw Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I just loved it. I loved her writing, her delivery, and how deadpan and understated she was, and yet had something to say and a lot of gravitas. So, I think I just liked her as a human. I hadn’t seen her in much. When we were coming up with actors of that age, I was really interested in her. She was one of the few that we were thinking of. Then, she read the script and loved it and was game to come all the way across the continent from LA to Halifax to be in the film, which was wonderful… I think it’ll be interesting to see what she does as an actor, because she really does have this ability to tap into exactly who she is. That’s a huge asset because when she’s in front of the camera, you really believe her.” 

By following Gaby’s journey through relationships, Spinster seeks to expose stale stereotypes about settling down. For example, in one particularly interesting moment, her married friend insists that the problem is that Gaby needs to ‘choose [her mate], not be chosen’. Dorfman points out that, while Gaby’s friend may mean well, her comments expose flawed cultural ideas about the need for love.

“In some ways, it’s a little bit tongue in cheek because it’s a different way to put herself out on the market but to maybe have some perceived control,” Dorfman claims. “But I think where that’s coming from is this idea that women should be a certain something. You should do something. That you should actually be active out on the market at all. Why? Does it mean that life won’t be lived unless you’re in a relationship? No, of course not. Life doesn’t stop and start depending on your circumstances. So, that was coming from a place of her friend, just desperately wanting her to reflect the life that she’s already living in a way. Its disruptive when somebody does something completely different than us, and yet has found just as much meaning, love, life and inspiration than those others who’ve done the more sort of mainstream popularized ways of living life.” 

“You can decide to choose somebody and not be chosen, but we don’t have any control over what somebody else wants. Really all we can do is make choices in our own life and go from there and be active in how we want to live, imagine a new path that makes the most sense for us.” 

With that in mind, Dorfman also sees that the broader culture struggles to celebrate singleness as a valid (and important) life choice. Though she remains completely sympathetic towards those who struggle with loneliness, she believes that much of our culture’s emphasis on relationships stems from a larger system designed to make us feel insecure about being alone.

Says Dorfman, “I think that if you do anything that disrupts the capitalist channels of trying to sell us things to make ourselves happy, then you’re going to get pushback for it. One of those things is to be happy and single. If you’re women, to be happy and older. To be happy and not buy a lot of things to beautify ourselves. So, I think it actually is disruptive. There’s a lot at stake in making people believe that they need to be in relationships in order to be happy. We’re always telling people that you can attain happiness if you buy these things. (Usually, it’s about buying things, let’s be frank.) If you’re actually saying to people, there’s another way you can actually generate meaning in your life all on your own, I think that there’s something to lose. There are structures in place that will lose out on that.” 

“That being said, of course, loneliness is a huge issue in our society and something to be taken seriously,” she continues. “But I think there are ways to fight loneliness and to not actually have to be in a relationship. Probably the [loneliest that] I’ve ever been is in a dysfunctional relationship. We’ve all been there. For me, in my 30s, when I was going through this time, I think one of the things that I realized is that, if I can generate my own meaning in life [and] my own happiness, all the different supports and kinds of love that exists outside of romance [give me] a lot more control than trying to get somebody to fall in love with me or a version of me that, at the end of the day, probably has more to do with that person than who I actually am. I think that anytime somebody presents something counter-cultural, it is disruptive and creates pushback. It’s another way to be.” 

In addition to this, Dorfman also argues that this ‘system of wanting’ taps into an innate drive to fill the void in our lives. Asked what she thinks we are ultimately searching for in life, she says that the real question may be how to become satisfied with what we already have.

“I think it’s probably built into our DNA to want,” Dorfman posits. “I always go back to the hunter/gatherers [where] wanting is always survival, you know? We want the berries and the animals to hunt. I think that we’re always going to want something and maybe that’s the problem. [The goal is] to try to let go of the wanting. I think until we do that, we’re going to hitch ourselves and our happiness will hinge on things that we largely don’t have control of and that will probably lead to unhappiness. So, instead of the question being ‘why do we want things?’, maybe we need to frame it differently and start to focus on the not-wanting. I’m getting a little bit Buddhist there I think, but it’s something that I actually do think a lot about. That things that we want often just don’t make us happy and it’s that expectation that they will that gives us incredible disappointment.”

For full audio of our interview with director Andrea Dorfman, click here.

Spinster is available on VOD now.

Rocking Against Racism: 1on1 with Rubika Shah (WHITE RIOT)

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It really should not be a surprise that there’s a strong connection between music and the battle against racial injustice. From doo wop to folk music to rap music, it seems that youth often look to their most popular artists to become the modern-day prophets for their generation.

But 70s punk music? I admit that that one was new. 

In her new documentary, White Riot, director Rubika Shah documents the amazing events that took place during the social upheaval during the late-1970s Britain in the midst of the punk rock revolution. As bands like The Clash and Steel Pulse are beginning to make their musical mark on the world, the country is also deeply divided over immigration issues.As The National Front, a far-right political party led by Enoch Powell, continues to gain strength, music photographer Red Saunders calls for rock to become a force against racism. While history’s record of social upheaval in the 60s and 70s is well-documented, somehow the story of Rock Against Racism has gone largely unknown in our global culture. Having just discovered the story recently, Shah believed that she and her team had found something special that people needed to know.

“We didn’t know about it until five years ago,” she begins. “I found it with my producer Ed Gibbs. He’s also the writer of the film, so we’ve been making it together for five years. We were really interested in music and especially music in the 70s. This was a story that came about because we saw the footage of the Clash at the Carnival. I know that part [of the story] quite well and so I wondered, just on the general knowledge level, what was the Carnival? What was that festival? I hadn’t heard of it before. As I started digging deeper, the story became bigger and bigger because then I found out it was a Rock Against Racism carnival as such. Then, I found out that all these people had marched from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in support of Rock Against Racism. When I went back to the beginning of the story, which was two years prior to that, I found out that it was just a small group of people that got together and decided that they wanted to stand up against racism in the UK and actually started this as just a bit of an ad hoc group of people coming together and just doing something quite small. Then, over time, it became a big project for them.”

Chronicling the rise of Rock Against Racism, White Riot also looks at the toxic culture that helped create the movement. In particular, the film explores the rising power of The National Front, a politically far-right organization with a xenophobic agenda. As their sphere of influence continued to grow. The National Front began holding their own marches down the streets of London and even had support from the police.

“It’s a quite common feeling I think in the UK that the police were, especially back then, probably on the side of the National Front,” Shah claims. “There’s a lot of criticism, I think, towards the police for overwhelmingly protecting National Front marches. I think there’s some footage in there where you see that actually there’s a couple of hundred people maybe marching and then, there’s two or three policemen on either side protecting them. I just think it was part of that era what was happening. I think that he was sympathizing with that point of view.”

As with research for any film, it can be difficult to dig up historical footage from long ago. Though the process was a challenge, her team continued to keep their eyes and ears open for anything they could find.

Says Shah, “We spent a long time working on this film. So, we gathered material from lots of different people over the years. It became a bit of an exercise where, if we heard about a certain clip or gig, [we’d say] ‘Let’s go and try and find that.’ It was really difficult, but we managed to pull it together in the end,”

With this in mind, one of the film’s most startling revelations comes regarding comments made by Eric Clapton in support of the racist ideals of the National Front. At a time when past comments by celebrities come to light almost daily, Shah says that these ones may have been missed due to the limited press coverage outside the UK at the time.

“It’s bizarre, isn’t it?,” she states, somewhat amazed. “I mean, I found out about it five years ago. It’s something that happened and then has been, I guess, quietly just skimmed over in a sense. I think a lot of people know about it in the UK. It was a different time, you know. There weren’t camera phones. It was written about in the music press [but], unless you’re knowledgeable about that era, then you probably would know about it. Certainly, I don’t think overseas people will know about it because it was written in the music press in the UK and that was it. Then, it wasn’t really spoken about after that. So, it was the launch pad in a sense for Rock Against Racism. There were lots of things happening at that time. It wasn’t just Eric Clapton and it wasn’t just other artists. There was a whole swing to the right with just everyday people, National Front marching, politicians saying things on mainstream media. So, from a music point of view and from Red’s point of view, I think he just felt really hurt that someone like Eric Clapton said what he said.”

Coming in a moment when political activism has become a daily occurrence, Shah recognizes the important role that music plays in inspiring people to become united in one voice.

“It’s really important. We’re seeing it now with what’s happening with Black Lives Matter, but I think it was important in the 70s and throughout various different times in the last 50-60 years (and probably going back further),” Shah argues. “I think what was interesting about what was happening here in the UK was that punk was just beginning to seep into the zeitgeist. Young people, in general I think, were angry, [whether they were] white, black, Asian. Across the board, I think young people were just fed up and that sense of anger was starting to seep into music.” 

“I think that when the guys behind Rock Against Racism decided that they wanted to do something, it really started on a small level,” she continues. “Their original idea was to just put on gigs. They would put some white bands and black bands together on equal billing, and they would pay everybody. It was really important that they did this because they recognized that musicians needed to be paid as well. It was a show of unity and an idea for all different audiences to come together. That was the reason behind it… There were more carnivals and there were more gigs and Rock Against Racism actually lasted another three or four years. Then, eventually, they just went off and did their own thing because essentially it was just a group of people coming together.” 

One of the most amazing aspects of White Riot is the fact that this cultural zeitgeist was able to grow at a time when communication to the masses was far more difficult. Even so, Shah notes that those involved were able to make the most of a fanzine culture that helped the beliefs of a few passionate people to become a large-scale movement.

“It’s this grassroots activism business,” she explains. “So, it’s the way that people are able to mobilize like that. It’s people power. I mean, there was a lot of hard work going into that. They were able to tap into like-minded people in the print shop and get people involved. They had a lot of goodwill as well because printing was expensive. They didn’t have the money to do that, but they were able to slip in print runs at night and then get those papers on the back of the lorry, going out to wherever it was the next day to drop them into a music shop. Fanzine culture was right at that time. So, people knew where to look, to find out about music and the underground. It was literally like the analog equivalent of going viral is what they captured.”

Furthermore, though opportunity for people to speak their voice has become far easier, Shah sees that today’s changing media landscape has also created so many voices that cultural unity seems to have become more difficult.

“I feel like things are changing for sure. People [have] a lot of ways now to put our points of view across. Media has changed a lot. There’s Twitter, there’s Facebook. But then on the flip side, does that dilute the message? Is it harder to actually reach people? It’s difficult.” 

Though forty years have passed since the events of the Carnival, it truly is remarkable how much of the events of the late 70s resonates with what we’re seeing today. According to Shah, these similarities may actually be part of a pattern that extends back over the last century.

“When this happened in the late 70s, it was forty years after WWII and now, we’re forty years after the events of what happened in the late 70s,” she points out. “It seems to be every forty years. I mean, there are things happening in between as well but I just feel like maybe there’s something in it. Maybe, we all like inching forwards, but sometimes it seems very slow that things are changing.”

For full audio of our interview with Rubika Shah, click here.

White Riot is currently streaming on VOD and select online theatres across Canada.

What’s the Deal With 2020? Hamilton, Cancel Culture & Legacy

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your sunday drive podcast

2020 is nuts. Pandemic. Polarization. Social upheaval. The election. We try to put our arms around where the year is and where it might head next, seeking how we might respond from a Christian perspective.

Everyone is talking Hamilton (again). We discuss this cultural juggernaut in terms of its artistic value, how it relates to our current climate, what it says about legacy, and more.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Sacrifice in the Sand: 1on1 with Rod Lurie (THE OUTPOST)

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War is hell.

Though that may sound cliché in, there’s no question that any war requires incredible sacrifice that can be difficult to understand for those who have never been involved in the military. Still, over the years, this has not stopped filmmakers from attempting to bring the intensity and tragedy of war to life on screen. 

With his latest film, The Outpost, director Rod Lurie (The Contender) may have come closer than others to depicting reality with his incredible and intense look at the famed Battle of Kamdesh, the bloodiest engagement in the Afghanistan War. When he was first offered the script, Lurie says that he found this particular project too enticing to pass up, especially considering his own military background.

“As a military guy, I’m living every day on military websites and [I have] my military friends on Facebook and on Twitter, [so] I was aware of the story,” Lurie begins. “Certainly, I was aware of The Battle of Kamdesh. It’s absolutely within military folklore at this point. So, when it was brought to me, there was just no doubt I was going to do this. It was, by the way, brought to me by the first director of it, Sam Raimi. Sam had decided to drop out as director and was not going to produce it. Although he didn’t ultimately end up producing it, I first heard about it as a film project in his office with his head of development—a guy named Paul Merryman—and the film’s two writers, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. I knew there was just no way [that] I wasn’t going to do this film.”

The Outpost tells the story of Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV, a small unit of U.S. soldiers left alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, who are tasked with helping maintain the peace and build relationships with the locals. Trapped at the bottom of a deep valley between three mountains in Afghanistan, the division sits exposed and faces daily attacks from insurgents. Then, when an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters attacks them, the unit finds themselves faced with the impossible task of defending their station and staying alive. 

Relentless and unyielding, The Outpost is a visceral experience that makes the viewer feel as though they’re in the middle of the firefight. While he may have never been directly involved in combat himself, Lurie also argues his passion for this project extends from his desire to honour his brothers-in-arms.

“If I’m really being honest, it’s my lack of experience that made me want to make this film,” he confesses. “I graduated in 1984 from West Point, the United States military Academy. [It was a] tough four years. I graduated into a peace time and served in Germany. I was with an air defense unit. I was never on a battlefield and never had a bullet pass my head. I never fired a bullet at an enemy. My life was never in danger in any real way but that’s not true of my classmates. Many of my classmates have decorations that they wear on their chest from their valorous actions and from being in the field of battle. When I go back to my reunions at West point, I’m one of the guys who wasn’t in battle. It’s not a great feeling, to be honest with you. I always knew I wanted to make a war film, but not just any war film. It had to be about the war that my brothers were fighting in. So, if I couldn’t be on a battlefield with him, then I was going to honor them and this was the best way to do it… [It’s] the only way that I can do it right now, I think.”

Of course, with any film of this nature, preparing for the role would be an intense process. Though some of the cast were military veterans, Lurie notes that the actors who were experiencing basic training for the first time found themselves pushed much harder than they had expected.

“I really had to put these guys through the ringer,” Lurie recalls. “A lot of the guys were already vets. They were soldiers and they knew how to hold an M4. They knew how to fire a weapon. They knew how to move. But a lot of these guys, they’re like trained at Carnegie Mellon University. They are not soldiers. So, I sent them to basic training with our military guys…. This was not easy for a lot of these guys. I mean, there are many times at lunch where they would come and they would sit with me and there would be a tear rolling down their eye, going ‘I didn’t expect this humiliation. I didn’t expect this physical toughness.’ I had to train them properly, so that was very, very, very difficult for them.” 

“Now, [then there’s] somebody like Caleb Landry Jones, who plays Ty Carter, the medal of honor recipient, in the film,” he continues. “I’ve never seen a guy more dedicated than this kid. It’s just incredible. When I first met Caleb, he was exactly what I thought I was going to be, which is like this hippie type. He’s as Olive Oyl (from the Popeye series) and he’s hairy down to his [butt]. It’s like the opposite of the sort of buff, tough bald-headed [guy] who was Ty Carter… But I knew that Caleb was a great actor and, from speaking to people about him, I knew that he was dedicated and he would somehow transform himself into this guy. In fact, I sent him to meet Ty Carter. Ty called me and he said, ‘Rod, this guy is going to work out’. He was really nervous, but… Caleb transformed himself. That also meant militarily. So, he took it very, very seriously when the military guys trained them. In fact, Caleb’s brother, a guy named John Jones – is a Marine who lost both his legs in battle and he came to Bulgaria and trained with his brother. So, there was lots and lots of an attempt at authenticity in this film. I think we nailed it, in the end.”

Asked about the response he’s gotten from those involved that have seen the film, Lurie is grateful for the overwhelming support that he has received from the veterans and their families. However, that should not be surprising. To his credit, The Outpost works hard to depict The Battle of Kamdesh as realistically as possible. In fact, one of the most amazing aspects of the film is the fact that some of the survivors themselves are in the film, in some cases playing themselves. 

“Not only have they seen the film, some of them are in the film,” he asserts. “Daniel Rodriguez, who fought in the mortar pit, plays himself in the movie. Not only that, but he had to relive for us the death of his best friend. He actually staged it for us. He told us exactly how it happened, which was obviously a hugely traumatic experience for him, but he was a good soldier and he fell apart after he did that for us. We had a screening for many of the survivors of the battle and for the families of the fallen last October in Washington DC. That had to have been among the most emotional nights of my life. Certainly, that’s pretty remarkable. It was really something. What these families realized was that their loved ones, their names, will live on now. They don’t just disappear into the ether. Their names matter.”

Though Lurie recognizes the value of every man who served in Kamdesh, he chooses to frame the narrative in segments that focus on the unit’s rotating (and brief) commanders. Given their dramatic differences in approach, Lurie felt that this would be a good way to highlight them and how their varying styles to leadership affected the unit.

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“The commanders were targeted by the Taliban, so I thought that was one way to sort of honour them. One after another, they either die or have to leave the outpost. They also have different styles of command, which I thought was very interesting. So, the story sort of changes as we go along, based on the leadership styles of the commanders. I just thought that it would be a very effective form of storytelling.”

One interesting aspect of the film is the fact that, though they live and serve together, there are no guarantees that the troops will come together until they’re on the field of battle. Popularized over the years as the ‘band of brothers’ mindset, Lurie believes that, while may be willing to sacrifice themselves for one another, the truth about the relationships between men off the field may have become overstated. 

“I think you’ve latched onto something really, really interesting. You’re right. They are not friends,” he points out. “In fact, sometimes they’re actually like almost enemies. They will fight in the barracks, but they do learn that, in the field of battle, they’re all brothers. They are absolutely brothers. The real Ty Carter will tell you how unpopular he was among the other soldiers. Nobody liked him. He didn’t like anybody, but he saved a lot of lives. He put his life on the line in a very dramatic way for at least for one soldier and probably for several more. That is what it boils down to. These guys that are in Afghanistan right now, I’m talking about troops for all nations, they’re there to survive more than to do anything else. That means being there for your brother. It’s really simple.” 

“That’s not a good enough reason to have troops over there, in my opinion. It’s not a good enough reason. During the Second World War, you ask every soldier why they’re there, [and] they’d all have the same answer. You’re going to stop Hitler. I don’t know that if you asked any soldier at any war after that why are they are there that they would have the answer. The closest common denominator [as an] answer would be ‘to keep my brother alive’. That’s the reason that they’re there. It’s not good enough, but it is what it is.”

In addition, while other famed war films such as Saving Private Ryan and 1917 choose to emphasize the gravity of their specific mission at hand, The Outpost opts to instead focus on survival as the mission itself. For Lurie, this level of sacrifice was one of the most inspirational aspects of the project.

According to Lurie, “Scott Eastwood, who plays Sergeant Clint Romesha says [in the film that], ‘Our mission is what it’s always been.’ Then he says, ‘To survive’. That is indeed what all but eight of them did. They survived. But there’s something also very inspirational about that. This movie is not a morose thing at all. You will likely come out of this very moved, but also very inspired by the human spirit and what the human calculus is capable of. When I was at West point, what I was told was once you think you have exhausted everything, you’re only 10% of the way there. That’s something you see in The Outpost.

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For full audio of our interview with Rod Lurie, click here.

The Outpost is currently streaming on iTunes, Google Play and other VOD sites.

Refracting Truth: 1on1 with Atom Egoyan (GUEST OF HONOUR)

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Atom Egoyan does not make life easy for the characters in his films.

Known for such powerful and entracing films as The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, and Chloe, the iconic director always creates characters who are caught up in complex relationships that challenge the viewer’s assumptions. His latest film, Guest of Honour, continues this trend by building around what appears to be the simple relationship between an estranged father and his daughter yet somehow spirals into an intricate, multi-layered narrative infused with a mix of truth and lies.

Written and directed by Egoyan, Guest of Honour tells the story of Jim (David Thewlis), a health inspector whose daughter, Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), has recently been convicted of a serious crime. Although Jim remains steadfast in his belief that she’s innocent, his efforts to reduce her sentence are hampered by her stubborn refusal to cooperate with him. After her release, she visits Father Greg (Luke Wilson), a local priest, that she looks to as her potential confessor and may know more about her story than she realizes. Asked where the idea for such a complex narrative came from, Egoyan claims that the seeds were planted from his own family’s experiences in the restaurant business.

“It came from the fact that our son was working as a bus boy in this very exclusive French restaurant in Toronto,” he begins. “[He] came back with stories of the chef who is a proprietor also being tormented by a food inspector who was making his life really difficult. [Then], the character began to emerge. I began to think of parenting and how much do we really know about our kids?… That became sort of the root of the story. That weird place where we all know that, in a family (or any relationship), you have openness. There has to be communication, but where there couldn’t be communication. That blockage had this really strong effect on the two characters [of Jim and Veronica]. Of course, there were all sorts of issues around #MeToo and this idea about the ways in which lines were being crossed. I thought that [because] she was also as a teacher and had these responsibilities, there was something very interesting about this choice that she made. She’s a very extreme character. She obviously has this very self-destructive sort of tendency, but that’s where it came from.” 

“We [also] had a small bar on Queen Street, and we had to deal with food inspectors. You become aware of this whole network of how the city especially is built up on this network of restaurants and all these different sorts of windows into the different places. So, this person who spends a day going from one place to another, and who himself was a restauranteur at one point, that became really interesting and rich in possibility.” 

When the time came to cast the character of Jim, Egoyan was thrilled for veteran actor David Thewlis to take on the challenge. Having been a fan of Thewlis’ work for some time, Egoyan believed that he had the presence and gravitas to take on the role.

“There are actors that you see a performance and you just never let it go,” Egoyan recalls. “I’d seen David in Naked, Mike Leigh’s film, a long time ago. The way he was able to hold the screen and the energy and he had, I just thought it’d be very interesting to revisit this actor all these years later. I’d seen him in several films, but I’d never seen him take on a lead role. I just prayed that he would respond to the script when I sent it to him and he did… I was so thankful that I’d found my actor. He was so curious and he brought so much to the role. Some of my favorite scenes are the ones where he’s not doing anything or he’s just opening a drawer and looking at ribbons and an old cell phone. We read everything in his performance.”

Though Jim walks a line of the law as a health inspector, he also pleads for grace from his incarcerated daughter, Veronica. However, despite Jim’s earnestness, Egoyan feels that Veronica’s anger towards her father may inform her motivation in meeting with him.

“The question is, by seeing her father in these visits, almost in a very strange perverse way… [does] she actually also want to punish him as well?,” he asks. “[Jim] goes on about reputation and how he knows how important it is to preserve a reputation. But, of course, his reputation has been demolished by this action. There’s a side of what she does, which I think is really also focused on seeing him pay this penance as well. That’s so unfair because ultimately if they had only communicated to each other, this would might’ve been avoided.” 

“I also understand that that wouldn’t have been possible. There’s no way he would have told her at that time that [he and] her idolized music teacher were having an affair [or that] the mother was aware of that because she was ill. [She] was thinking about (maybe) a mother figure for her daughter. You know, a nurturing figure. So, it’s a real tragedy at the core of this, but you can’t explain that to her. As I said, by the time he could, when she was older, she probably locked herself into such a place that she wouldn’t believe it. She would have said, ‘Well, that’s as easy for you to say now.’ I think that really hurts him as well, but he feels that he didn’t even have that trust from her. What is he going to do to earn that at the same time?” 

Interestingly, while Veronica’s character remains in jail for her crimes, she also finds herself in an emotional prison as well. When he reflects upon what it will take for her to be truly free, Egoyan points out that her soul can likely only be able to let things go if/when she finally has the opportunity to hear the truth about her father.

“She feels responsible for wiping out this family, between the mother and the son. That’s where she is [emotionally],” he explains. “I think her character needs to know exactly what the priest tells her, right? The mother had given her blessing for that relationship. That was something that the mother felt would be best for her. To have this woman that was in her life, then take on that maternal role. I think the most moving part of the film for me [is]… when Jim is doing his final inspection. There’s that closeup of that smile on his face when he comes to realize something. I think that’s the moment where he thinks that if he has his funeral at that church, that maybe that conversation might happen. That maybe the priest would actually offer that information, because he’s the only person who can. It’s the only person who objectively would be able to say that and allow Veronica to believe it.” 

“Not only is it the Veronica wouldn’t believe the father, but also what would be the point in the father telling her that history? Because the music teacher isn’t there either… He doesn’t see any point to it. And yet it’s a moment that actually would have a profound benefit, but there’s no one there. I think this happens sometimes. There’s no one there to regulate that. There’s no one there to kind of say, ‘This would be the best course of action.’ So, these two characters are left to their own devices.” 

Known for his complex relationships within his films, Egoyan loves to challenge his audience with visual imagery as well. For example, in Guest of Honour, one of Egoyan’s most effective visual motifs is his use of glass which serves as a metaphor for how our understandings are affected by others.

“First, we’re telling our story through glass camera lenses. Also, glass is this object that refracts, and, in this case, creates a different sound [and] these strange distortions. In the film, there are flares but there’s this idea that glass is also fragile. It can break. So, all those things were really important in the visual motif of the film.”

In light of this, Egoyan maintains that Guest highlights the fact that, like refracted lens, our perspectives shape our understanding of history.

“The question is who determines what actually is the story that’s told and why is that story being told?,” he contends. “This is a very unusual situation where she is perceiving something as a child and what she’s perceiving is that the father is doing something so incomprehensibly wrong. We need to understand that. We see that image twice. Once, she’s playing the piano and she notices her father make a signal to the music teacher that they go upstairs. It just seems like so cavalier and crazy. But then, when we see it again, after she understands what has happened to the father, we see that he’s actually in the same place but his hand is in her hands. Then, he just leaves the room and the teacher goes to follow him to try and comfort him. It’s interesting that the only thing that separates those two scenes is the fact that she now has the information from Father Greg as to what the circumstance really was. But if there’s no one there to tell you that, then there’s no reason for her to ever altered that. I firmly believe that, even if the father had told her that story, there would be no point to it from his perspective…He doesn’t understand that she’s in pain so why would he tell her?”

In fact, faith plays an interesting role within Egoyan’s latest endeavour. For example, while his character appears not to hold any specific religious beliefs, Jim seems to honour and even carry out any number of religious sacraments within the film.

“There’s one huge clue [to his spiritual history],” he points out. “When he’s at the party at the Armenian restaurant, he’s holds up the glass and he says, ‘To his blood’. That is a moment from the Eucharist. That is a moment of communion. My suspicion is that there was religion in his background, but he just hasn’t been following it. So, he does create all of these weird sacraments, like what he’s doing with the rabbit. It’s as though he’s he still needs that… We also understand that his wife, Rosangela’s parents gave a lot to the church… So, I think it was there. It was just that he’s lapsed. It’s not there in his life anymore.” 

With an emphasis on the relationship between the past and present, Egoyan’s structure is told through multiple flashbacks and timelines. Though that may seem daunting, he believes that it actually brings the narrative together as a whole in a seamless manner.

“It’s all about these conflicting images that are existing in these two characters’ minds,” says Egoyan. “They both have these memories. They both have these sorts of images of things that happened and those are being revisited over the course of the film. So, there had to be a structure that allowed that to happen fluidly. There are really five timelines that are being kind of followed. That sounds confusing but, I think as you watch the film, it’s not. I think it’s pretty clear. Between her as an eight-year-old, a 17-year-old, the school band trip, in jail, and with the priest, those are five different sort of moments that are being referred to. So, to keep it fluid and keep all those balls bouncing, the structure seemed most organic.” 

For full audio of our interview with Atom Egoyan, click here.

Guest of Honour is currently streaming on iTunes.