Tag Archives: Peccadillo

Interview with Asaf Korman – Director of Next To Her

How did you come across the idea for this film?

The idea for the film and the characters came from my wife, screenwriter and actress Liron Ben Shlush. Back in 2009 — she was still my girlfriend then – she told me she wanted to write a script based on her own experiences growing up with a mentally disabled sister. Talking about it for a while, we understood that this film will not be about looking after; it will be about a woman neglecting her own life for the sake of another person, and the dangers this neglect enfolds.

How was it working as a couple on the film?

Our combination, as a couple and as a screenwriter\actress and her director, defined the essence of this film. During the writing we got married and had our first child together, realizing that the film is not only about a situation of co-dependency, but also about parent-hood, about the boundaries we are forced to deal with when taking care of another person. There was a lot of anxiety before filming started. Liron had to perform nudity and love scenes with another man, and she had to deal with Dana Ivgy re-enacting her own real life sister. Eventually, these were the easiest parts of filming. The nudity and sex were technical, and the resemblance of Dana to Liron’s real sister allowed her to relate to her and made her feel comfortable.

The challenge in working with Liron on the character of Chelli was the fact that she wrote it. We had to find a way making every situation in the film new to Liron, making her forget everything she wrote so she can experience the scenes as if they are the present reality, and not something meticulously tailored in writing. The fact that the lead actress of the film was always the only person on set knowing better then everyone the meaning of the scenes and actions was both helpful and dangerous, but the strength of the emotional connection to the story, and the semi-autobiographical elements of it, allowed her to create an amazingly complex and ambiguous character that is both her and the troubled women she could have become. This film is an act of love, in the most complex and challenging sense. It is an act of cooperation that encloses passion and pleasure, side by side with struggle and distress. It is an act of observation, of looking deep into each other’s eyes, which required true exposure, without compromise. In that sense, the film is also a continuation of my short film DEATH OF SHULA, that also touched the edge of exposure, revolving around the family’s deepest of fears, and crossing borderline between fiction and real life.

Film making demands collaboration with hundreds of people. How did you manage to work on such a personal film with others?

It was very liberating to be able to share our intimate and personal cinematic dream with a whole bunch of creative people. Our producers Haim Mecklberg and Estee Yam Mecklberg (2-team Productions) played an integral part in all the artistic aspects of the film, from start to finish, sharing their passion, vast experience and uncompromising love for filmmaking. We also had a very enthusiastic production designer, Ron Zikno, who managed to build the main location of the film as if the characters lived there forever, and filled the set with objects from Liron’s childhood memories which he carefully researched. Amit Yasour, the director of photography, apart from bringing his innovative cinematic approach and subtle style, created an artistic and non-technical environment on set which allowed us to focus on telling this story, with all the emotional challenges, the best way we could.

Watching the film, one could think that Gabby is portrayed by a real mentally challenged actress. How did the actress manage to do that?

The actress portraying the disabled sister is a famous Israeli actress, Dana Ivgy. I met Dana in high school, she is a very close friend of mine for many years and she was lead actress in the first short film I made in high school when we were 18 years old. We have been waiting to work together again ever since, and me and Liron knew we would cast her from the early stages of writing. Our close friendship was what allowed us to trust each other going into the wild journey this character demanded. In order to play the role of Gabby, Dana worked very long hours at the hostel in Haifa where the real sister of Liron is living. She researched a lot and met doctors and specialists, trying to deeply understand the physical and mental state of the character. We also rehearsed quite a bit, trying to master the gestures of the two sisters and reach the intimacy of siblings that was so crucial to the credibility of the film.

Next To Her will be released in cinemas and on-demand – March 11 at Curzon Bloomsbury, ICA, Art House Crouch End and Home Manchester.

Rebel, rebel (girls on film)

A desire to resist authority, control, and convention, these are just some of the things that come to mind when thinking about rebellion. We’ve all at some point in our lives performed a rebellious act. Refusing an order from a parent, a teacher, or a working task. When we’re told what to do and when to do it, how to act, how to feel and how to look, at what point do these authorities become too much?

A young 16 year old, Alex is a high school dropout who is considered a failure due to her mixing with bad crowds, use of drugs and self-harm. Faced with hardships at a young age, her adoptive mother sends her to a Northern German farm to work with horses. Monika Treut, director of OF GIRLS AND HORSES (2015), presents a display of misbehavior that transcends into a journey of self-discovery and a portrayal of female bonding. A beautiful story that deals with the coming of age with girls and the soothing landscapes of the most Northern tip of Germany at the ocean near the Danish border. Be sure to check this film out!

With rebellion in mind, I thought I’d take a look at rebellious heroines and the theme of female bonding in a selection of my favorite films. Sarah Hentges, in her book, Pictures of Girlhood: Modern Female Adolescence on Film, says that most mainstream films about rebellion are, for the most part, set in the past…the rebellion in these films is usually directed toward parents or society, but in some cases this rebellion has a larger goal to dismantle the structures. These behavioral patterns are triggered in moments of restriction, this upsurge is pushed further if the rebel is in the process of exploring her sexuality.

Love has no limits, especially when its up against the Chinese government. Set in the 1980’s in China, THE CHINESE BOTANIST’S DAUGHTER (2006) tells the story of a young orphan, Li Ming, who takes up an internship at a botanist’s garden and forms a sensual yet forbidden relationship with the daughter of the botanist, during a time when homosexuality was a punishable offence. The film is a beautiful story of two women who attempt to defy every rule of a totalitarian system, that in the end, love will always be the winning answer. No matter what your gender or sexual orientation is, the film brings a relatable urgency of how far one is willing to go for the person they love. The last few minutes of the film will no doubt leave you in tears.

Back track to the 1980’s streets of Los Angeles, littered with fast cars, over-the-top fashion and a group of friends who hit the streets to the theme song of ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stand In Our Way’ by John Farnham. Linda Blair stars in SAVAGE STREETS (1984), an exploitation flick that explores independence against an authoritative society, and a young teenager who must take action into her own hands. After her handicapped sister is raped at school (shot in the Pacific Palisades, the same location as Brian De Palma’s CARRIE (1976) – another film dealing with rebellious teens), Brenda seeks out revenge in a revealing tight leather outfit and cross-bow. The film highlights different levels of female bonding from a girls night out, to sibling love. While the horses in OF GIRLS AND HORSES become the catalyst between the two girls, this female bonding is expressed in the beautiful transition in which Brenda’s sensitive side is revealed only through the love she has for her sister and girlfriends, to a quick mood change of fierce attitudes and the rejection of all order. One cannot forget a naked Linda Blair in a brawl in the showers of the school locker room – a must see!

A teen movie like no other, HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994) is based on a true story from 1954 of two best friends, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker who form a close bond in which they both share every possible day with each other. Stuck in their own fantasy world, the concerned parents attempt to separate them. To ensure their everlasting connection, they both seek out revenge against their moralistic families. Before we all knew her as Rose from Titanic, Kate Winslet stars alongside Melanie Lynskey in this coming-of-age story; a real testament of teenage friendships and the worlds we invent to escape harsh reality. Sarah Hentges describes these girl genres as empowering in myriad ways, not only for girls and women, but for anyone who recognizes a lack of fit between mainstream expectations and reality. Rebellion in the form of murder, the girls met their tragic ending in a 5 year prison sentence, but the ultimate punishment was on the condition that the girls never see each other again.

The last film on my list breaks away from the coming-of-age genre of teen flicks. Similarly to SAVAGE STREETS, this film marks an important entry into the exploitation genre of rape revenge films which came about in the 1970s. Ms. 45 (1981) directed by Abel Ferrera, is a brutal portrayal of a young adolescent out for revenge after being savagely raped twice in the same day. Taking matters into her own hands, Thana, a mute seamstress, picks up a 45. caliber handgun and hits the streets on a killing spree. This transition from an innocent girl to a cold blooded killer is marked by the ritual process of applying red lipstick, slicking the hair back and dressing from head to toe in black, a common aesthetic in the films from this genre. While the social structures failed in moments of need, the female is then positioned in a negotiating state of unconscious decisions which consequence her final behaviors. Hentges further describes that the formal, institutional powers like school, family, religion and law make rules that girls are expected to follow, but the informal rules of adolescence that come from these structures also restrict girls’ behavior, social and sexual development.

From the coming-of-age teen films, exploitation genres to tragic teen love stories, this rebellious movement of bad-ass girls becomes a welcome departure from the typecast roles of stay at home wives and dutiful daughters, although these films deal with the breaking of structures in the form of death and murder, the beautiful moments of female bonding bridge an underlining message that women are capable of much more than being restricted to the confines of what society tells them. Looking back at OF GIRLS AND HORSES, the film is a good example of this transition of a troubled girl caught in the mix of abuse and lack of support to living on the German landscapes with horses as her form of escapism. This sudden shift of rebellion to the coming-of-age could only be achieved by the understanding of sexuality and the removal of societal expectations. In the words of Hentges: ‘hegemony does not have as tight a hold as it sometimes seems’.

What’s Left Of Us: Our Top 5 Post-Apocalyptic Films

What’s Left of Us – D. Christoph Behl (2015)

“During the process of the movie I discovered that, in a post-apocalyptic world, love might be the last resource.” – Christoph Behl

Where would you hide out when all hell breaks loose? Who would you survive with? How would you survive when humans are not the only danger around? When it comes to post-apocalyptic films, we can’t help but put ourselves into the same situation (or at least I do), and wonder what would you do?

In order to survive, Axel, Jonathan and Ana have to learn to live together and overcome explosive human emotions; love, anger and even hate for one another. What’s Left of Us is a story of survival in a claustrophobic bunker in post-apocalyptic Argentina. Scavenging for food and water, the three survivors must battle the undead in a gripping and terrifying drama that convincingly portrays what life would be like at the end of the world.

With the release of our DVD – I look back at some of cinemas best post-apocalyptic zombie films to date; which explore these themes of survival, trust and human emotions. Here are my top 5:

1. Night of the Living Dead – D. George A. Romero (1968)

George A. Romero’s classic black and white zombie film focuses on a group of people who hide away in a farmhouse while the dead roam the hills outside. Tension is built as the group find ways to co-operate with each other in an attempt to fend off the zombies. Confined in a small space, the film pushes the limits of how far people are willing to go to survive. Concerned with the outbreak outside, the group have an even bigger threat inside…just what lurks inside the basement? This film holds its own as one of the best zombie films ever made, if your looking to get into the zombie genre I would recommend you start with this one, as it paved way for the many zombie films which followed.

2. Dawn of the Dead – D. George A. Romero (1978)

“When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.”

Romero is back again! In my opinion the best zombie film of all time, which resulted in many remakes across the years. The film looks at a group of survivors who are closed off inside a giant shopping mall; while attempting to survive the outbreak, the group clear out the mall and turn it into their new home. An original idea of using space as a tool for survival; the film brings a comedic element to the way the survivors inhabit the many stores within the mall. There is a nice break from all the violence and gore as you watch the survivors go shopping for a new fur coats or trying on diamonds while dining at expensive restaurants. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last forever!

3. 28 Days Later – D. Danny Boyle (2002)

All hell breaks loose on the streets of London…after 4 weeks of a mysterious virus consuming the living, a group look to find sanctuary before it’s too late. A great entry into the zombie/apocalypse genre; director Danny Boyle brings a challenging film of chaos, destruction and a sense of sadness to the streets of London. Faced with an open city where vulnerability becomes your main concern, 28 Days Later brings a fresh new element of danger to the genre with the use of its fast paced zombies. Might I add, the film starts off with a naked Cillian Murphy on a hospital bed – nice!

4. REC – D. Jaume Balaguero (2007)

A television reporter and cameraman are quickly faced with a life and death situation as they’re locked inside a quarantined apartment block with an unknown virus. The original REC (before its many American remakes), uses the handheld camera effect to build tension across the dark corridors of the building. The residents are placed into uncertainty as they must work together to find a way out of the building. Easily one of my favorite handheld camera films, not only for the atmospheric tension that it builds but the lead actress Ángela Vidal’s performance captures the very essence of what it means to survive. If you’ve yet to watch any of the REC’s I would highly recommend starting with this one.

5. Mad Max – D. George Miller (1979 – 2015)

Mad Max is easily regarded as one of the best apocalyptic movies of all time. With a young and sexy Mel Gibson in the 1979 original, the film created an epic portrayal of a man out for vengeance after his partner, wife and son are murdered. Faced with biker gangs in revealing tight costumes, Max must travel the desolate landscapes of post-apocalyptic Australia in search for justice. With the release of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road this week, I’m super excited to see Tom Hardy take on the role of Mad Max in an epic battle of survival. Although the film does not deal with a zombie outbreak, Max is faced with an even bigger threat: humans. When the world has ended, which road will you take to survive?

– by Serden Salih

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