Review of my experimental film: "This is not dying"
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Greg Piper of Rock & Roll Rehab presents This Is Not Dying
This Is Not Dying,
Ever stay up all night tripping on shrooms, having deep, insightful conversations until the sun rises and said "I wish we had made a movie of all this"? Don't bother, Wendy Morrison has done it for you.
This Is Not Dying, is a ninety minute movie described by Wendy, a well known Los Angeles musician and songwriter, as being without a genre or category. But having spent as much time as I have around filmmakers, there is definitely a category for her film, and it's the Art/Experimental/Student category. ,
Okay, I guess it's not that easy to pin down, but my impressions of it that I got while watching the recent screening held at the California Institute Of Abnormal Arts, is that its stream of consciousness, psychedelic minimalist plot, is in the same basic mode of Easy Rider, Two Lane Blacktop, The Trip, and long form music video. One of the things that makes this film seem the work of slumming professionals rather than students or tripping old hippies, is that the production quality is relatively high. It was shot in HD by a real cinematographer and the main actors all seem confident and experienced in front of the camera. ,
Outside of maybe some of her band's music videos, I don't know how much time Wendy herself has spent in front of the camera, but her screen presence and confident acting chops can't be denied. Whatever aspirations she has as a filmmaker, she should really consider a professional acting career. I'll be even more impressed if I could be allowed to read the script from which she was working. It's in the nature of the story that much of the dialogue may have been ad libbed, and if that is the case then I am much impressed with her acting ability. If, however, the actors were speaking the lines from the script verbatim, then This Is Not Dying could be viewed as a great actor's demo reel. Everyone involved should be proud, I know how difficult it is to produce a 90 minute film that actually looks like a real movie.
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~Director's Comments~:
Thanks for the review; W. Morrison here; the film was semi scripted, with the foundational story, "Wyatt's" dialog and all the group scenes written by myself; the 2 doctors monologues and character of "Jeff" along with his personal scenes were written by Keith Merritt who played him, and the "doctors sessions" with each character around the fire were improv'd.
Again I will add: 9 people total cast & crew; shot in 5 days, for $10k is reflective of the level of experience and professionalism of all involved.
All the actors involved have extensive backgrounds in theater, improv, and performance art. While we did all ad-lib, we also followed a foundational script, following it to the best of our ability without a full crew.
Director of Photography Alberto De Costa Calla is an incredible talent and professional; sound designer Drew O'DonnelI helped pull it all together.
It has been called "groundbreaking" in the burgeoning "new media" category of filmmaking, as well as being recognized as a cult film, and myself, aptly; a cult filmmaker.
We made the Semi-Finals at the Cinema Magic London Film Festival, in the category of "No Budget" :)
I appreciate that you were able to "surrender" to the art, and enjoy it for what it was intended to be...creative and shamanic exploration :)
Blessings!