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2023 BUFF - Talking with Brian Lonano

Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2023 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off Wednesday at the Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA) and wrapped Sunday. I’ve been lucky enough to cover the festival since 2016 (the fest took off in 2020 and 2021, and I was unable to attend 2022).

One of the things I love about BUFF is that it gives me the chance to catch up with visiting filmmaker friends and make new friends! Filmmaker Brian Lonano, who has made several wild short films that fit in perfectly with BUFF’s emphasis on weird bizarre envelope-pushing films, is one of those filmmakers who was visiting BUFF. I, myself, first met Lonano when we both had short films at a film festival in 2006 and I am proud to call him a friend. I interviewed him in 2018 when his short BFF Girls was in the 2018 BUFF, but this actually marks the first time we have both been at BUFF in-person at the same time. This year, Brian and co-director Blake Meyers had the short CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man featured in the Survival Is Insufficient shorts program. I caught up with Mr. Lonano at BUFF:

Brian Lonano

Me: How did CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man come about?

BL: A streaming service that I will not mention, approached me to make a piece of content for their streaming service. So I said “how about I talk about a great cult movie like Tetsuo: The Iron Man?” Because in a complete glut of content, what is the complete opposite of what I think content is and I think Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a good example of a singular kind of film that cannot be and should not be categorized as content. Because lots of people love to call movies and television shows content. Something like Tetuo deserves to be called a film.

So I joked about talking about the film but being replaced by a hipper YouTube guy who may not know anything about Tetsuo: The Iron Man. And he has a short circuit in his brain and escapes into this post-apocalyptic world where guerrilla filmmakers from the underground recruit him to fight the machine, which is this literal content-seeking robot. Lots of gratuitous violence and gore ensues. Then it becomes a body-horror film where the fake Brian avatar becomes one with film, literally becoming a giant film monster made of film and cameras. He battles the robot to an explosive finish. He urges the underground filmmakers to keep fighting for cinema.

Me: I’m totally behind that mission! I am a big physical media guy. Not sure if you saw it but I made a short documentary Video Visions about one of the last video superstores in Upstate NY. One of the things we addressed in the doc is that there are so many movies that were released on VHS and DVD that never got released on streaming, so the role of video stores and physical media is a gateway to film history. It seems like from this film you are passionate about VHS as well.

BL: I’m passionate about physical media and the preservation of films. From the most important culturally significant films to regional films and obscure films to Z-grade movies with shoe-string budgets. I feel like if anyone committed their film to film, celluloid or VHS that it should be treated with respect. Some of that stuff is considered “trash films”, but you know it shouldn’t be treated like trash.

Me: I’ve seen a lot of your films and here you made something that is very meta and self-referential, where you are actually on-camera and then there is someone playing you. Was that kind of an out-of-body experience to make a film where you are the center of this?

BL: It’s like a Charlie Kaufman kind of a movie where I put myself into my own movie. It wasn’t something I set out to do like “I want to make a movie where I’m the character”. Because I try to be humble in presenting myself as a filmmaker. So for me to be the main character, I was like “I can’t make me the main character in this movie, so I need to replace myself”. So it was a way for me to be the main character without acting in it.

Me: This film just premiered and it has some film festivals coming up. What’s next for you in terms of films you are making?

Nothing right now, this one took two years. So I need to recoup and re-fill the well of inspiration. This one was a challenging production and it almost made me want to take an indefinite break from filmmaking. I know my body, mind and soul would fight that urge and say “no, keep creating”, but I may have to adapt how I make films from now on. But I have some things I want to do, including a documentary idea.

For info on Brian Lonano: http://www.brianlonano.com/

Sadly this is my last BUFF dispatch of 2023. This was a strong year for BUFF, especially The Unheard, Smoking Causes Coughing, and The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster. I want to thank the entire BUFF team especially Kevin Monahan, Nicole McControversy, and Kaila Sarah Hier! I always enjoy attending this festival and this year it felt good to be back!

For info on Boston Underground Film Festival: https://bostonunderground.org/

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #interview #brian lonano #content: the lo-fi man #film festival #film geek

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #7

One of the film screenings I did not get to attend was Piaffe. I did get to watch the screener, but this is a perfect example of watching an audience movie with the genre-loving audience at BUFF and how that can enhance your experience with the film. From Germany, Piaffe is about a woman who fills in for her sister as a foley artist and grows a horse’s tail. Not a typo! Having a movie about a foley artist makes sense at a film festival, especially since so many in the audience work on films or are very film-literate. But with this, I had a few problems with it based on my watching it on a laptop in my home. For starters, it was very experimental and serious. For such a WTF concept it would’ve been better if they had a sense of fun or wackiness to it, i.e. if it had been approached like the way Michel Gondry made Mood Indigo or the way Boots Riley did Sorry to Bother You. Also there were a lot of long stretches with little to no sound - not just no dialogue, but no sound. For a movie about a foley artist, that is a surprising move. But the biggest let down was the story not going beyond its initial concept. Having said that, there’s no denying the use of color and production design here. Again, this would’ve been very different if I had seen it with the BUFF audience.

Piaffe

Coming up: while the 2023 BUFF is now over, I have some more coverage coming up including interviews.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for more coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #piaffe #ann oren #film geek #film festival

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #6

I did not get to attend The Dunwich Horrors shorts program about New England-based stories, but I did get to see one of the shorts Skin & Bone. I jumped out of my seat when I saw this in the program because it was directed by Eli Powers, who I had worked with years ago. He was Amanda Seyfried’s assistant on Ted 2, which I worked on in locations and production office. I bring this up because Seyfried is both a star and producer on Powers’ film. With most films at BUFF there are some notable cast members, but it is very rare that you see an Oscar-nominated actress / Emmy winner in the program, let alone among the shorts. Amanda has always been a great actress, she has especially shown her dramatic skills in films like Lovelace, First Reformed and Mank. Here Seyfried runs an isolated farm in a rural area and a drifter (played by Seyfried’s husband actor Thomas Sodoski) starts to have haunting visions of men trapped inside the bodies of animals on the farm. This is a big swing for Eli and it really shows what you can do in a short amount of time with limited locations. It’s also the perfect fit for The Dunwich Horrors, because it felt like an isolated farm in Western Mass. or Vermont. Both actors are mesmerizing. Way to go Eli!

Skin & Bone won the award for Best New England Film (David Kleiler Memorial Award) at the award ceremony!

Coming up: while the 2023 BUFF is now over, I have some more coverage coming up including interviews and further reviews.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for more coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #skin and bone #eli powers #amanda seyfried #short films #film geek #film festival #ted 2

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #5

Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2023 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off Wednesday at the Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA). I’ve been lucky enough to cover the festival since 2016 (the fest took off in 2020 and 2021, and I was unable to attend 2022).

Laya Delon Hayes in The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

Sunday was the last day of the film festival. Sadly I actually didn’t make it to much. But I did get to see The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, which I really liked. A brilliant black teenage girl Vicaria is obsessed with death after it has taken so many of her loved ones before their time. She looks at death as a curable disease and then embarks on a dangerous scientific exploration. When Get Out became a big hit, it was hailed for the fact that Jordan Peele’s film combined social commentary with the tropes of horror films. There have been other horror films that also had a social commentary to it as well, but Peele truly swung it out of the park with both. In The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, it is equal parts social commentary and horror monster movie (as opposed to one more so than another). It has something to say about senseless deaths plaguing this young girl’s family and community, but the horror is reminiscent of Pet Sematary, where the lesson is that even if you can bring someone back, they might not be the same. Like a lot of monster movies it goes off the deep end, but I respect that this was a movie using the horror genre to have a powerful message.

Afterwards, I went to the Awards Party at The Lilypad in Cambridge. I caught up with some filmmaker friends and had a lot of fun on a weeknight.

Coming up: while the 2023 BUFF is now over, I have some more coverage coming up including interviews and further reviews.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for more coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #the angry black girl and her monster #bomani j. story #film festival #film geek

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #4

It was a low-key day at the festival for me on Saturday. Due to prior commitments, I wasn’t able to attend a lot. I will have a review of Piaffe at a later time though. In the evening, I did stop in at the after-party at Wusong Road and caught up with some friends. Fun!

Today: last day of the festival includes Survival Is Insufficient shorts program, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, and Closing Night Film Rebel.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for more coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #piaffe #film festival #film geek

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #3

First up I saw the doc Mister Organ from director David Farrier, director of Tickled. I try not to give much away when describing films, so let’s see how well I can do that with this one: it begins with a look at a strange antique shop in New Zealand that is clamping cars and issuing fines, but then it becomes a look at Michael Organ, a strange and sinister man affiliated with the shop. In a similar approach as he did with Tickled, you don’t know what’s crazier: what he is discovering or the colossal rabbit hole he is going down to discover it. I’m still wrapping my head around this one, but it’s certainly unique and unlike anything else I have seen recently.

Farrier and Organ in Mister Organ

Then I went to a packed screening of the U.K. flick Enys Men. It takes place in 1973 on the Cornish coastline on an uninhabited island, where a wildlife volunteer is observing a rare flower. Little by little, strange occurrences start happening. This is an experimental slow burn that is not going to be for everyone. It seems every few years at BUFF there is something like this (little dialogue, minimal story, loads of editing and sound effects), but this was a little better than most. It felt like it was an obscure 70s horror film the way it was shot on 16mm, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of The Lighthouse. Although that Robert Eggers film was far superior, it had the same remote island vibe and questioning if the isolation is causing craziness or if the person is crazy to begin with.

Today: The fun continues all day and night with Moon Garden, the Sound + Vision music video program, Piaffe, and Divinity.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for more coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #mister organ #david farrier #kpop tickle #enys men #mark jenkin #film festival #film geek

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #2

Day 2 of BUFF continued with Spaghetti Junction. It’s about a teenage girl, who recently lost her foot in a car accident. She doesn’t have the best relationship with her single-dad alcoholic father or her older flighty sister, but one day she wanders into the woods, where she meets a mysterious man “The Traveler”. I thought the first two thirds were really well-done and really visually impressive. Without getting into spoilers, what the ending built to was not as fulfilling as the build up. But I’m not lying about how visually impressive it was!

the heroes of Smoking Causes Coughing

Then it was a later-night (not going to say late night, but 10:15 is later on) screening of Smoking Causes Coughing, from French director Quentin Dupieux. This is a wild off-the-wall crazy take on the super hero genre, that I am so happy I saw with an audience. This is a perfect example of a movie that would not work if I watched it alone at home, it needs to be seen with a BUFF audience of genre film fans! It’s like a 70s-style super-hero movie: After defeating a giant, evil, foaming turtle, the Tobacco Force consisting of Nicotine, Benzene, Methanol, Mercury, and Ammonia must take on the even more evil Lizardin. But first, they prepare by going on a retreat to reflect on existential quandaries such as the meaning of life and the importance of clear instructions and staying calm in difficult situations. This is full of so many WTF moments. It’s as if Michel Gondry tried to make a super hero movie but pushed the envelope of WTF-ery even more than he usually does. It was LOL funny with tons of comedic set pieces. See this with any audience if you can!

Today: Highlights include The Dunwich Horrors shorts program, Mister Organ, and Enys Men.

For info on this year’s #BUFF23: https://bostonunderground.org/

Stay tuned to Green’s Party for my coverage of this year’s fest!

#boston underground film festival #BUFF23 #spaghetti junction #smoking causes coughing #film festival #film geek #kirby mcclure #quentin depiuex

2023 BUFF - Dispatch #1

Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2023 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off last night at the Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA). I’ve been lucky enough to cover the festival since 2016 (the fest took off in 2020 and 2021, and I was unable to attend 2022).

me at the Boston Underground Film Festival red carpet!

Last night I went to the Brattle Theatre and I actually got to sit next to my Cruising In The Van Productions chair in the 5th row! The Opening Night Film was The Unheard. Jeffrey A. Brown’s follow up to The Beach House is set to premiere on Shudder later this month, but the Massachusetts-filmed psychological horror film had it’s World Premiere at BUFF. What got my attention about this, was screenwriters / producers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen. Full disclosure: The Brothers Rasmussen have become friends of mine over the last decade though the Boston film scene. 2005′s underrated Long Distance was co-written by them. Then they wrote 2010′s institution thriller The Ward, which was John Carpenter’s first movie he directed in about 10 years. Then they wrote and directed 2013′s Dark Feed, a horror movie about a movie crew filming in a scary location. They wrote and directed the indie horror film The Inhabitants (I was lucky enough to attend the private cast/crew/friends screening in 2015). Then they co-wrote Alexandre Aja’s Crawl (one of my 10 Best Movies of 2019).

But I digress. In The Unheard, we meet Chloe a young woman who undergoes an experimental procedure to restore hearing loss. She then goes to her family home in Cape Cod. She is haunted by memories she had as a child. That home was the last place she saw her mother before she went missing. She starts having auditory hallucinations and it’s not clear if that is related to the recent procedure or if strange things really are happening in the off-season of this Cape Cod home. This slow burn is a film I’m super glad I saw on the big screen as the Brattle just installed a killer new sound system. The sound design in this movie is off the charts and there’s a VHS element to this film was is creepy and haunting. Lead actor Lachlan Watson (NOTE: the actor goes by they, the character goes by she) gives one of the best horror movie performances in recent memory (up there with Mia Goth in Pearl and the cast of Nope). Also need to mention supporting actor Nick Sandow, known for his comedic tendencies on Orange is the New Black, here he really leans into this dramatic role as a former cop turned handy-man for the property. Highly recommend watching this with headphones on and not doing anything else while watching it.