127: The Lie of Another Earth

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What's our vector, Victor? Hi, this is Jess Wexler. You're listening to Movie Meltdown. Our movie's The Lie. You can't bring me down Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio The red ones, the blue ones, the places that I know Look up the way.

What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian. I'm Greg. And, I don't know, what the hell? We're talking about movies.

Yeah, we're talking about movies. Once again, we've veered off into a slightly different direction this week. That almost sounded like two kids recording their own, like, on a. First cassette tape in their basement or something like that. Which play and record at the same time.

Exactly. I spent a good portion of my youth doing that. We recorded, before we had a VCR, recorded, like, the sound of music and. Wizard of Oz. Not just the music, but the entire thing on cassette tapes.

You just would play them back. I had, and no surprise, somewhere I still had it. It was a green cassette tape of Star Wars. Nice. The recorder was parked in front of the speaker, and I pushed record and play.

Pre-VHS version, that's how I geeked out over Star Wars. And stripes of all movies. I had those two going, and that was about all I really remember taping. And some Get Smart episodes. That's a whole different thing.

I'm going to trump you. I was so good at Joust when I was a kid, and I wanted to prove to everybody how good I was. And I didn't have a VCR yet to record it. Or ours played and didn't record, something like that. And I.

On my tape deck recorded as incrementally, I would say, how much I was scoring in joust on my Atari. And so when I finally finished it, I gave the final score. And I listened back. It was only maybe 10 years later I listened back to that. And I thought, this is the most sad and pathetic thing I've ever heard.

Until about 10 years later when you also made a porn that way. I'm scoring so much. Look how much I'm scoring. And I call that porn joust. I'm scoring so much.

So, yeah, this week we originally had a normal episode sort of planned, but we've rescheduled things. We're going to try to head out to Flyover Film Festival this week, and we're going to be talking about a few movies there at least. So that's sort of... changed up the way we're doing it this week. So, um, if nothing else, Greg and I are going to yammer on about what. We've seen lately.

So, um, just as a tie in, and this was half your fault that I ended up going back and watching this. Uh, one of the things I watched this week was surrogates. Oh yeah. So yeah, I gotta, I gotta, I don't know if I'll go as far as you did before. Okay.

Because I haven't watched the other one in a long, long time. So I won't compare it to anything, but It is better than I expected. It is, if nothing else, just story-wise, it's pretty interesting, and it's kind of imaginative, I suppose. And I think the thing that was probably most, well, the most realistic is I. Buy how lame the human race is in this thing.

Right. I mean, that's the part that I was just like, yeah... Yeah, what's the span here? 15, 20 years? Yeah.

Yeah, if given the opportunity, we would not ever leave our houses and sit on our ass all day long. That's the American way. Hell yeah. If you gave us the technology to allow us to do that, we would completely do that and totally shut down our traditional society within a 15, 20-year span. So, yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting.

And is it just me or was surrogate Bruce Willis's hair terrible? Oh, I think it was supposed to be. I think so. It was to call attention to the fact that it wasn't really him. Right.

But I was like, Oh, please kill that surrogate off real soon. Cause that needs to go away. It, it was intentionally disarming the whole, the whole thing. Yeah. But, um, And that you could then juxtapose what the people looked like in reality, you know, the real human being when you saw them.

And I think there's supposed to be some shock factor in that, obviously. Yeah, that's another one that was kind of interesting was, and I guess this is more telling of the people involved, is that the type of person they are with the fact that some of them look exactly like themselves. Mm-hmm. You know, sometimes they just look a little worse because they haven't gotten out of the house in years. But other than that, it actually does physically look just like them.

And then there are other ones that are very... very different and you see and that's kind of fun too as you get those advertising you know campaigns that are just like have the perfect body and choose exactly how you get to look like and yes i mean you you get into that end of it which again is very much the road our society would go down and we would be all on board for you know buying into the uh frivolous and superficial way of doing things well. On top of that they even have a beauty parlor for your already perfect surrogates that is funny so that that's even you know we're that shallow that we have to take the perfect version of ourself and take it out and make it a little bit prettier so I mean.

There's times when I'm just like, okay, this is sort of a cool idea. And I like that they also play in on the fear factor heavily. That, well, why would you go out of your house? I mean, it's dangerous out here. I'm just like, wow.

Yeah, sure, it kind of is. You've got a society of agoraphobics, though. Yeah, but you look at what the media does now and how much it plays up on the fear when it's doing even just a basic news story anymore. So you give that 15, 20 years of, okay, and we also have this new way of doing things. Yeah, it could totally seem like, don't leave your house.

Well, you know, the germs would probably mutate to the point And our immune systems would drop that it would be deadly just to go out. Probably. Even the fact that everyone's reckless because it's not their body, like it's one big Grand Theft Auto world or something like that. Well, I didn't buy that there wasn't any crime. Because I think if I was sitting in a chair at my house and there were no ramifications...

I'd be out doing everything. Yeah. I mean, you could, well, especially just theft. Right. I mean, some of the other crimes make a lot less sense since you're not really there.

Right. But I mean, like theft, why would you not use your robot to go steal money so that you could buy more robots or fancier robots or fly in hover chairs around your apartment since nobody ever left their apartment? I don't know. Yeah. It does seem like there's a little, yeah, not buying that totally, but, um, obviously.

Oh, the other thing that I thought was weird was the, It was still like her hurrying up to get ready to. Go to work. I'm like, but you're not leaving the house, really. Like, why would you get a super fancy robot and then use it to go to work? Right.

I'm like, granted, I know society still has to function, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, yeah, this is the same thing when I played The Sims. I'm like, why would I create this wonderful alternate world and then go to work every day? I was like, cheat code. I'm like, I'm not doing that shit.

So, yeah, I kind of had that same reaction of you're going to go sit in your chair for eight hours and tell someone else to do busy work all day long. Right. I was like, what a fucked up future we have. Right. Yeah, I'd be a stuntman or something.

I wouldn't be in a. Beauty parlor or whatever. A cop would be fun, though. A cop would be, and again, that would have a little more reason. I mean, at least in the first wave of it. them, when there was still a lot of crime, then the cop himself wouldn't get injured.

Right. But, I don't know, it's still kind of lame to some degree. It's like, dude, you're Bruce Willis. You're that badass. You don't need a robot.

Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that was interesting. It was definitely a lot more fun. It just, it got such bad marketing, and it's like they just, like, dumped it, you know? It's like they dumped it in the theaters.

It didn't, you know, make a killing that first weekend, and it was gone, like, all movies now. Right. Yeah, it's amazing when something that's a property with as much money, because the special effects looked really good. I mean, it's not like they skimped. It's not like it was a low-budget version of a Bruce Willis movie.

Right. It had a hell of a lot of special effects, and they were all pretty good. And, you know, when you've got it led by Bruce Willis, one of the biggest stars around now, and it still can just completely be gone in, you know, two weeks' time. It's, you know, already lining it up for DVDs. Right.

That's, yeah, that's kind of weird. Oh, other than that, and this enters into an interesting territory that I've, I guess, only recently come into the circumstances that this comes into play. Going to go see a movie because the person in the movie told me about it. Oh, yeah. I guess you don't normally run into that, or, you know, I guess lately we throw ourselves into that situation, but.

Yeah, I remember like two years ago sitting there with William Forsythe. And by the end, I was like, hey, what are you working on? And he went into a good, you know, five minutes or more about Dear Mr. Gacy. Oh, yeah.

And he was talking about how, you know, how, I mean, William Forsythe is a badass, you know, as a character, as a real man. He's just kind of awesome. So the fact that this was such a disturbing property to him, I mean, that's how you do, I mean, this is a fucked up story. When William Forsythe is like, ooh, I don't know if I want to deal with this. I mean, he's, you know, played Al Capone, you know, and he was looking at this guy going, ugh, no, I don't think I want to do that.

So. He was talking about how dark and depraved it was and how much he had to get himself into that character, but then he very quickly wanted to get out of it because it's so disturbing. Wow. So he didn't want to do a whole lot of press for it. He did our show, though, which.

Is what's important. That's right. So, yeah, I saw it. I don't know if it just came out. It's pretty recent, I think, that it made its way on the DVD.

So I saw it and was like, okay, now I need to see this. So it is funny that it's recommended by William Forsythe. But, yeah, it was really pretty good. With some of those, they've done a whole string of these serial killer movies. I don't think this one, you know, that other one was like a company that was doing it.

It has nothing to do with the ones that came out like three or four years ago that were, you know, Bundy. And I think they even did a Gacy one too, actually. But this is an entirely separate project, but I have to give them credit. They did a good job. And, I mean, a good portion of it goes to William Forsythe.

I mean, he really does tap into what you had to do to play him because, yeah, I mean, it would be really easy to just play him like, creepy and over the top but the reason that i mean especially like good serial killers if you want to call them that is that they're very charming is that they can get i mean you learn somebody like bundy that you know could also be very you know like seductive and alluring to these people and could you know win people over with his charm and like that way he had that going with you know the ladies but like Gacy was more of like just a, your average Joe kind of, you know, he, and that's the thing you watch. Even on the end of this, they've got documentary footage with like cops that were like assigned to follow him around when it got towards the end where they could tell something was going on.

And they sent cops out to like, basically just kind of tail him and see what he's up to while we're compiling evidence, while we're getting this case together. And after a while he knew they were there and they ended up at like in the same restaurant. And he's like, well, come on, let's all just sit at the same table. That's how, A, comfortable he was with himself, and how, like, what just a sort of, to some extent, a people person he was. Like, he really could just be, like... friendly with just about anybody and sort of win people over because he's kind of got that nature.

And he plays it like that, but he plays it like that with, with that switch that you can throw the switch and all of a sudden he is evil and sadistic and fucking scary. And that's, I mean, he plays that so well because he really does come off as a hey, I'm your best friend, one minute, and then you piss him off or something catches him wrong and he is just frightening. And, you know, you're playing Gacy. You have to be able to do both of those. And William Forsythe does a great job.

Let's see, Jesse Moss is pretty much the only other main character. And do you know much about this last story? That's the thing. This really is based on the real story of, like, the end of his life, more or less. And this kid, you know, not to spoil it, but just give you the setup, because, again, spoilers for real life.

I mean, this all actually happened. This kid is, like, 18, just out of high school, going into college, and he's taking, like, sociology or whatever, one of those stupid classes that you can... You can write a paper on a serial killer and get away with it. So he's trying to impress the, you know, the teacher. He's like, Oh, he's watching the news footage.

Cause it's coming up on time that they're going to basically kill Gacy. He's going through the appeals and stuff, but it's getting pretty close. And he's like, Oh, I'm, you know, I think I'm going to try to write to him and see if maybe, you know, I can, I can, you know, do a paper on him. And then the more he actually like he, he had for some reason that first letter gets through and Gacy actually responds to him. And then he realizes, Oh, okay, well I could actually like, try to play with him and try to like befriend him and then i can get information that the cops never got from him the fbi never got from him because i also i don't know if i realized just how much gacy denied everything like up till the end i mean they dug bodies out of his crawl space and i mean out of his just like all these bodies out of his house and in the end he was still like nope Wasn't me.

I don't know how those got there. I just woke up and there they were. You know, I mean, he's got this like ridiculous story of, you know, but I mean, if he's not confessing, they can't just, I mean, they still have to go through all this process if he's not going to come out and admit to it. So that was interesting too. That, I mean, just how much he just like, everybody knew he was guilty.

It was obvious he was guilty and he was just like, Nope, wasn't me. So, uh, this, this kid was deciding, I'm going to, I'm going to make, you know, make this work. I'm going to use what I have. And what he has is the fact that he's an 18 year old guy. So he sends him like oiled up shirtless pictures of himself.

And he sort of, you know, starts to play on that side of Gacy, which he certainly had. Right. So he, he starts playing that angle and he starts being like, Hey, you know, I, I, you know, my parents just don't understand me. And he starts trying to work that too. So he can be like, you're going to be my best friend.

Oh, and also look, I'm, you know, hot. So that means he's sort of deciding right off the bat. He wants to play him and he wants to try to like dupe him. Like, and that's what he creates almost this other character. So he's going in, like.

Trying to trick John Wayne Gacy. Yeah. Which, yeah, I mean, is that a good idea? Right. And as things fan out, he gets himself in.

I mean, there's still a lot of stuff that Gacy could do. I mean, you don't realize still how much power he had. Like, he claims how all these connections he has on the outside, and he can get anything done on the outside from in there if he wants to. He also, he's selling his paintings from in prison. Right.

He's got tons of money, like tons of money. He's bribing guards. I mean, the kid's like, you know, he's running up a huge phone bill when he calls and talk. He's like, I'll send you the money. Don't worry about that.

I mean, he's just like, he's, he's rich. He's got all this power and yet he's sitting in a jail cell. You know, it's just like, it's, so it, it's very interesting. Some of the stuff they go into and it's, and it's really kind of interesting. The fact that this, this last story of his is actually true as well.

This kid really did write to him. And by the end, they show footage of him, like, on Oprah telling this story. I mean, he really did write to him. He befriended him. He gained his trust and got him to sort of, like, in a way, he got him to tell him some stuff that he hadn't told people before.

But with, you know, when you deal with a fucking. Evil mind like Gacy. he also gets inside of his head and he starts to kind of play on the, the dark depraved nature in everybody. So, I mean, he gets himself into a situation that even he wasn't prepared for. So it's, it's interesting. I was, I was kind of impressed with definitely the William Forsythe performance, but even like, you know, just the way the movie is put together is, is pretty solid.

So it's, I would say it's worth watching if, it's not even overly gory. It's creepy in moments because of, you know, the situation he gets into, but I mean, this is all after the fact he's in prison. So there's a little bit of flashback here and there of stuff going on and bodies being drug out, but it's not even as gory as most serial killer movies would be because it's all after the fact. So if he has. More of his mind and the true story and not, necessarily the gore of it.

Yeah, it's not recreating him in his heyday, it's recreating those final days of him sitting in a jail cell 24-7. It's a very different take than you usually see in these kind of movies. I kind of impressed with, with how well it was put together. So that was for the most part what I've watched. I.

You know, I, I'm not one, I really shy away from true story, serial killer films. It, it, there's something, um, I don't know. It's too real for. Me, I guess. And I, and I don't like playing off of that or feeding into that, um, sensationalizing, sensationalizing the, the, a real person.

I, for some reason it feels wrong to do that. So, and I don't know, I mean, they're, they're fantastic stories and, Some of the true crime books I've read, extremely fascinating to me, but there's something about the serial killer mindset that's almost like that wall that I won't... I put up a wall and I won't go around that. I don't know. And I know there's great movies, but...

I don't know. I shy away from it. I guess with this one, the only thing that sort of separates is you come at it from the perspective of this kid. Right. So you're not looking at it through the serial killer's eyes, which usually you are, especially with those other ones that I've seen recently.

It's like you are, it almost really does like make you the serial killer. It makes you want to side with the serial killer by the end of it. Where this does not do that. Like this one, he is portrayed as kind of, sad at times and evil at times, but I mean, it never really sensationalizes anything. Right.

It just sort of plays on the relationship that these two kind of build up in this really weird situation that comes about. But yeah, so it's, it's slightly different than one of those, but, but yeah, it's still, it's got a little of that, but to me it doesn't sensationalize him the way that some of the other ones. Yeah, that's good. Well, yeah, I may have to check that out sometime. I mean, definitely, uh, sounds very intriguing.

The story is that that's fascinating. Yeah. Just the fact that that all really happened in the last days of his life is kind of weird. Yeah. Uh, so that's, is that to me?

Yeah. Okay. I finally got around to seeing a real movie. Um, well, it's old, it's still older, but, um, I saw the fighter on DVD. I just, yeah, I added it to mine.

I still haven't watched it either. Yeah, no, it's, it, um, it, I wasn't that interested in the storyline, and that's what kind of turned me away from it. But I knew and had heard that there were some very good performances in it. Yeah. So, why not?

Yeah. I'll tell you what. Amy Adams, I guess, is her name. Yeah. She got screwed because she... hands down was the best performance in the movie.

That was the one when I first saw that trailer was so shocking because that seems so out of character for her. So if she can deliver it almost makes it more powerful. Oh, she delivers it. She's completely believable. It's like the free, you know, the first scene that you first see her, um, and they spend a little time physically looking at her, but then, and then they get into that character and you, you're thinking, okay, this is the girl that, what was the, um, ever after movie or what was the, The real-life Disney.

Yeah, what's that one? I don't remember that one, but everybody knows which one I'm talking about. The princess movie, that real-life princess. You expect that person, and that's nothing. Like I said, she is completely believable, plays it extremely well, and she's got some tough competition in some scenes.

And if anybody in that film was going to win a supporting role. It should have been her. So, you know, you've got Marky Mark. What am I going to say? I mean, he does a good job in this.

It's like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. It just fits who he is. So, you know, Marky Mark, it just fits. I'm not saying anything. I'm not taking anything away from Matt Damon.

That was his early on. It was his baby. And he is a. Fantastic actor yeah he's definitely grown I mean that one was just yeah it was it fit him so well especially at that point at that point but now he's turned into like a huge oh yeah impressive. Actor oh yeah no I'm not going to take anything away from him but I might mention a little bit about him later but why can I never remember his name Matt Damon not Matt Damon Matt Damon the lead.

Christian Bale I don't know why. Okay. Christian Bale, the lead in it. I want to dislike Christian Bale. There's so many times where I think, oh, he's, you know, the Terminator or in the term, that kind of stuff.

And then he pulls off a performance like this that just. And you know that he's acting. You know that he's acting, but he just hits it all right. Every scene, he's just... You know, he plays a junkie.

He plays a has-been. And they do a little segment at the end where they show the actual real-life guy. And he hits it. You can tell he just nailed him. He must have spent some time.

But he totally, physically... emotionally commits to every character that he is. When, you know, I've talked about Rescue Dawn before. I've talked about The Machinist before. That's, you know, three in a row now, the last three things that I've seen him in, that it just, he's on top of his game in those movies. And I'm really impressed by him.

I don't like him. He doesn't ever play people that I like. You know. But he's just good. And just to watch him and Amy Adams for two and a half hours or whatever it is, is worth it.

Like I said, I'm not really interested in the boxing stuff. But it's a good, it's a well-made movie. I'm not sure it deserved all the accolades that it got, but it's a good movie. Let's see, I also watched The Hereafter. Matt Damon.

And I remembered, my wife is very interested in that, you know, crossing over kind of people communicating from the afterlife kind of thing. It's one of those little tiny hobby things that she has, and her ears will perk up. Oh, yeah, that is that movie that came out a while back. And so I rented that one, and that's one that she actually put the book down long enough to watch with me. Um, it had some, it had some good things.

It sets it up as one of those, you have three stories and three characters and you know, they're going to all meet at one point. Um, and how's it going to get there? And it, it's hopelessly predictable. There are some really good parts of the movie. He has a relationship with, um, uh, Bryce Dallas Howard.

And she's only maybe in it for four or five scenes, but she completely steals it. The movie, you're like, I want to get back to her. I want to get back to that relationship. You know, it's skipping from story. There's three, like I said, three separate stories, and his is one of the main ones.

And for about half the movie, she's part of it. You want to get back to those scenes with her. You want to get that relationship. And I'm not one for a sappy romance, you know, drama or anything, but The chemistry is so good, the writing is so good, that you want to keep going back to those parts. There were some shots that they did that.

Directorially, I guess, that separated it from just a normal movie. Obviously, you're working with somebody that knows film. Yeah, that was going to be the reason I wanted to watch it. It wasn't really the weird afterlife storyline. It's just that it's Clint Eastwood.

And visually, I kind of would like to see where he goes with this one. No, it's very good. There are some things... And he does a lot with... shadow and a lot with low lighting. And there were times where I was really squinting to try to see it.

So I'm not saying that I have the best home theater set up, but at the same time, I was like, Come on, show me a little bit more. And maybe I'm, I think I make that comment way too much. Maybe I have bad eyes. I don't know. That's what I was like.

I was like, maybe it's just your eyes going off. I don't know. Um, the kid in it that plays, um, well, I'm not going to go into that. He did a very good job. I know the Clint Eastwood does a good job setting things up.

Um, it's like Gran Torino to me. There's so much of it. That's really good. There are some things that really bother me about it. Yeah.

But I'm not going to pan it. You know what I'm saying? He, like, gets 80% of a kick-ass movie, and then the rest is like, oh, the rest is just okay. I think maybe it's just because he cranks them out so much. Yeah, you're right.

I mean, seriously, he's doing, like, more than one a year almost every year anymore. Yeah, I'm like. if you could just slow it down a little bit, maybe you could get that last 20%, right? Right. I don't know. I'm still kind of catching up on some of his more recent, you know, directorial stuff.

But it is funny how different he is as a director versus when he's, you know, his acting career but even like movies that he's in and he's directing like are usually like it's just a different mode it's like he's still doing the clint thing when he's on screen and when he knows he's going to be on screen even when he's directing versus when he's when he totally steps behind the camera it's a. Different movie you get. Flags of our fathers you know it's like you get those kind of movies that are just like wow okay that's gone you know it's like clint is not here anymore but the director you know the guy who made bird is back here you know it's like you don't get blood work you get your you there's times when he sort of elevates it and there's nothing wrong with blood work it was a fun movie but i mean that's all it.

Was there's it's still it's well made but it doesn't it's not. Really elevated up to you know that level that he can get to and he sometimes does and. He's very good at showing almost slice-of-life pieces within a movie. Not necessarily like this is an open-close, tight story, and this is what happens to these characters for this event. But he really is really good at...

I would love to see if he could have somebody write several good ideas, and he just handles short stories for... you know, a 45 minute movie, because I really think that he, he can, cause there were parts, you know, parts of this film that if you took three scenes and, and just boiled them down to the elements that he's got, that like, uh, the setup in the beginning, um, the reporter and her boyfriend and, you know, a catastrophic event happens. It, that one section just, you know, lingering on certain parts of a room or a street that he'll sit and show. Really, he does a fantastic job of telling a story or just on a person's face. And then it's almost like he doesn't know what to do with the rest of the film.

Like I said, about 80% of it is just fantastic. But it's a good movie. It was a little long. I was kind of looking at my watch for a while. But yeah, I was asking for more.

And maybe I do... I do like Bryce Dallas Howard a lot. I think she does a really good job in film. And I was trying to separate while I was watching it. Is it me just liking what she does?

Or is it this is the best part of the film? And I really think... Wife and I talked about it afterwards. We really do think that was one of the better parts of the movie. And the most. one of the most interesting parts, and then it just cuts off.

You know, well, I'm not going to go any much deeper. Jay Moore is in the film, plays his brother. Jay Moore could just stop as far as I'm concerned. And maybe, I know you're not supposed to like the guy. You're not supposed to like, he's like the schleppy brother, but it's brutal to watch him.

And I hate doing that. He seems like he might be an all right guy, but man, It was hard to watch. He just always plays that character. He always plays kind of a jerk and kind of a screw-up. I think that TV show he had for a while was pretty good, and he was actually good in it.

This is going way back in his career. But since then, it's like everything else he seems to play falls into that category, it seems like, where he just sort of plays that same jackass-y character, and that's about it. Yeah. So, yeah. I definitely recommend seeing The Fighter.

If you're really into Clint Eastwood or you're really into the afterlife stuff, see it. Otherwise, it's okay. I mean, you know, the box office probably did it for what it's worth, I think. So, I don't know if I have anything else. All right.

Well, if that's it for the Geek Week, I'm thinking we'll go ahead and we'll take a break here. And when we come back, we may go ahead and jump to, we're going to be talking to two of the stars from one of the movies at the film festival this weekend. The Lie. So I think we will go ahead and talk to them and get that interview we did with them. And then we'll come back after that with our thoughts on the At least the two main movies we saw at.

Flyover Film Fest this week. So we will be back with that. I'm in a flyover state. You can't bring me down. I'm living in my flyover state.

Just a lovely flyover state. I'm in a flyover state. Don't resist. I'm in a. Flower stand I've found I'm in a flower stand I've found.

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With Joshua Leonard and Jess Weixler. Just saw your movie, The Lie, and. To start from the beginning, I guess you said you read the original story in The New Yorker? The original story is a T.C. Boyle story that was published in The New Yorker in 2009, which was.

Where I read it. And we optioned the story from him and then spent about three months adapting it into something that we could do for screen and shot it right. At the end of 2009, I guess. So you immediately were sort of taken with the story. I guess my question is, your initial reaction, were you, I want to play that character, or I want to direct this story?

You know, my initial reaction, which happens to me very rarely, was that I wanted to play the character. I wanted to play Lonnie. Because I felt his pain in a way that I felt like lots of people might be unsympathetic to. And it kind of. It kind of started from there, but it was also something that we did so run and gun, and I think it was four months from the time that we got the story until we shot the movie, and it was also.

Utilitarian. I had more confidence in my skill to convey tonally what needed to be done through the character by playing him than I had in my ability. As a director to get somebody else to do it. It's a time saver. I know what I want.

I mean, you mentioned what he's going through. I mean, I guess we can get to the tone later, but just in general, is that sort of what drew you to the story? I mean, it is very much about sort of both of you dealing with that part of your life you don't really like, that you're sort of selling out in some way or another, or dealing with being a grown-up when you probably don't want to be. Was that something that Has sort of plagued you over the years, or is it just something that you thought was good from a storytelling standpoint? No, I mean there was something very personal about it, which is I think just the inherent compromise to individuality. aspiration that comes along with taking responsibility for other things and other people in your life.

And, you know, where that can ultimately lead you if you're not really vigilant and honest with, you know, your family, the people around you. And then, Jess, you were sort of You're forced into that sort of, you know, selling out point. Is that something that's harder to deal with, I guess? Or is it something you just tapped into as an actress? Or I don't know if you had anything personal invested in that?

I think it's something that everybody realizes when they pass from sort of adolescence into adulthood that all the idealism is hard to stick to as you find the need to... like support yourself and a family or all of those things because, you know, you don't make money just saying, you know. Fuck the man. Fuck the man. And, you know, the man occasionally can have some good things to offer even though it's a, you know, terribly tortured system that often makes... morally wrong choices. If there's a balance that can be struck, great, but that they were, I think, a very specific particular couple that came out of trying to do something else, like trying to be purists, and so they couldn't stray from it, you know, particularly.

And I do think it's a big question. I don't have kids, but most of my friends do, and that question of You know, aligning yourself with a company or a job or a lifestyle that doesn't necessarily fit your idealism in order to get health care for your baby, who becomes the most important person in the world. And I think very few people, you know, very few people choose what could be perceived as the selfishness of sticking to ideals at the potential jeopardy of your child. Yeah. Yeah, it is that, you know, grow up and take care of your family kind of thing, yeah.

And this was a very specific instance of, like, going to work for, like, a very evil drug company. Like, it wasn't, you know, I just happened to work in this corporate office. It was a little worse than that. It is the ultimate evil. Yeah.

And then I guess we won't go into the lie itself. We'll leave that for people to go and see. But it definitely... Was there a concern? I mean, maybe it's different reading it and you knew what to do with it, but was there a concern that it just goes too dark?

I mean, it definitely turns a corner there. Well, I mean, there's still a concern. We'll see when the movie comes out, but it is. The lie that the protagonist tells in this movie. Is very taboo.

And to some extent, that's why it was story-worthy and what drew me to it but but it is fascinating for all the people who have admitted to lying about their father having a stroke or their grandmother dying that this one is just is just you know a shade too far. Yeah which is what makes it funny. It's yeah it's funny but it is that uncomfortable funny. Yeah yeah yeah for sure. I was going to ask, I know I did talk to some of the directors at Flyover last year, I asked sort of the same question, and as a filmmaker or just acting in it, I mean, the industry itself has changed massively, and more so probably in the last 15 years than since it started, just technologically, if nothing else.

As a filmmaker, I don't know, do you see it as more of a blessing, the options that are out there now, or is it just throwing so much out there? Does it make it harder? Well, I mean, to me, personal opinion, it's a mixed bag. You know, I think where we're at right now that's really good is that the distribution. Channels are catching up with the technology.

And there was a moment there where everybody could make a film for cheap, but only, you know, one in a thousand got to show them anywhere. And so I think with, you know, with people. aggregating to Netflix and Hulu and VOD that there's a lot more channels for people to watch. Niche films in. Now the good news is. That it is a viable model to make a film for a smaller audience.

So you can kind of stick truer to what you want to do as long as you keep it at a price point that you can recoup. And I think that it gives a lot more power to, to, to the filmmakers, which I think is exciting. Yeah. I mean, it definitely lets you do it without having to completely sell out to the man and do it, you know, going through the studio system and making them totally watered down your original idea. So it's, yeah.

And I was just going to have you tell them when, when it's coming out and where people can look for. It or, We are releasing through a company called Screen Media. We're going to release in October of this year, and it'll be out in a couple of cities and hopefully everywhere on demand. And then eventually it'll go through all those channels that we just talked about. Exactly.

All right, so that is the lie, and go be on the lookout for it. Thank you so much. Cause I'm doing what I love. Chilling, chilling, incredible feeling. Music for the children, not for the millions.

I can't understand, but I'm doing what I love, so fuck the man. Chilling, chilling, incredible feeling. Music for the children, not for the millions. I can't understand, but I'm doing what I love, so fuck the man. The crowds are thinning out at the snack bar, folks, and there are still three minutes till showtime.

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All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. And now, on with the show. The milk now look all around There's no sign of life Voices, not the sound Can you hear me now? All right, we are back. And thank you once again to Joshua and Jess for stopping for a few minutes there.

They had a lot going on this whole festival. So it was nice of them to take a few minutes and stop and tell us about the movie. And I think we're going to continue on that trend and discuss the lie. What are you talking about, man? You're a father.

You need to take responsibility for your actions. Brother, I love you, but who the fuck are you to talk about responsibility? You live in a Winnebago on the beach. Yeah, and I'm not responsible? So, where would you like to begin, Grace?

Yeah, you know, obviously we're not going to get into the lie itself. These, yeah, these are, not only are these new movies, these are movies that aren't even out yet, if you're listening to this, you know, as soon as it hits. So it's, yeah, it's going to be a couple of weeks on probably both of these. Some of them, I mean, may not even open in major cities everywhere, so it may still be a while before they open. Make it to you.

So yeah, we're definitely not going to. Try to hit the spoilers like we do most of the time, just because it's so new. I'm not going to ruin stuff that people haven't even had a chance to see yet. So we're going to try to do a, a overview and just sort of tell you, you know, what to look for, what to go check out basically. So yeah, the lie is basically, um, a story about a man and a woman have a young child and, um, They're wrestling with, well, I guess you did listen to the interview.

They're wrestling with the sacrifices of a person's ideals and what that does to you. And I guess if you have a snapping point, you know, even though just a weak moment and the ramifications of how you make those decisions or what you do and how that can affect your life. I don't know. What did you think? There was, and I think it was completely intentional, but it really did. is unsettling.

When you get to that point, it takes a dark turn. But before that, I was going to say, even the other theme there that we've been discussing, I don't think it's really as heavy-handed as it could be with that. It definitely brings it up and addresses it straight on. But at the same time, that first 15, 20 minutes is just kind of a comedy. And very easily, it could just be a fun comedy, and that's all you get.

And that's kind of where I thought it was going initially, was it was just going to be... Because there's some really fun characters in there, and there's some great dialogue. So right off the bat, I thought that's more of the road we were going down, is it was just going to be sort of a fun comedy. And then it hits that point and probably even before the lie gets, you know, thrown out there. But before that, you also start to see it hints more at hers, but it definitely you see how much he's just unhappy.

And you start and then it starts to take a turn of a little more of a real world situation of dealing with day to day life and working someplace you're not thrilled with and Doing it all because you have to take care of your family. So it addresses that, but it's sort of like a slow movement into that. I think it's a lot more fun going into it than if you just heard, you know, the basics of, you know, kind of what we were talking about before. You might think it's nothing but this big, heavy, serious piece. It's really funny in a lot of different parts.

And even when it hits the creepy part, it kind of, tries to continue that level of fun even it like right almost to the point where it makes it more uncomfortable the fact that they're pressing on and still trying to deliver jokes when when this like really heavy moment has been thrown out there so. Yeah it you know they almost have to have that fun play there in the setup yeah because you would hate this i mean you already want to hate parts of this character you're like i don't care about this jackass and if it didn't have i mean because there are some warm tender moments that he shows it throughout the film and there are some very funny moments and he has good relationships with people aside from you know the things that we omit to tell each other about yeah i guess but if it didn't have that fun it would be just Yeah.

You know, and by the time the lie comes, you just be like, well, fuck this guy. I don't care. He can get shot for all I care. If you didn't warm yourself to him somehow. It would be really dark all the way through.

Right. If you didn't have those moments where it was... Where it was jokes. I mean, there's moments where it's almost like stoner comedy. Right.

There's moments where it's just. I couldn't tell just how, like, they were making fun of, like, these super green hippie characters. Or if they were just sort of behind that idea. Like, the characters definitely are. But I can't tell how much they were kind of making fun of that.

I don't know. But there's definitely a lot of humor in that where it's so. over the top of, you know, biodegradable diapers and everything is super, super green that it's like, it kind of becomes a joke in and of itself. And then, but you're also surrounded with. All these great character actors that like the brother does a great job. And I mean, he doesn't have a huge amount of screen time.

He makes a lot of appearances, but like, he doesn't have a huge amount of screen time, but I think he is one of those things that sort of ties this movie together as it goes on is, is this, this really solid and kind of quirky performance that he gives. Right. That's pretty, pretty impressive. Or even like the, the one-off kind of characters, like the therapist woman at the very beginning. Oh yeah.

Is really funny. Like some of that is like the funniest dialogue right off the bat is you get some really good little, like, I won't even say out and out jokes. It's almost like the, the way that things are phrased or the way that somebody like, you know, poses something is, Kind of the joke itself. Yeah, I think that stuff was pretty clever, the way that it's written. We've got a rocking song midway.

Oh, it rocks. Yeah. You're going to have to go see this movie in some form or another just to hear the song that is played in its entirety in the middle of this movie. And one of the characters, that's actually one of the most enjoyable parts of the movie is one of the characters' reaction to the song. And it's a story in and of itself.

You can see so many emotions, and you know exactly what this person is thinking throughout every... And it's like you're experiencing it with them. Yeah. Because it changes quite a bit as it goes on. Right.

And I think. I don't know anything really about acting I would never claim to... But as far as showing that to an acting student, that's about as good as you can do silently, facial expressions, just reacting to something. And again, I guess we won't even go into who or what, but I will give this actor credit. A good portion of the performance is nothing but a straight on shot of their face and It's just, again, a lesser actor really could not have delivered there.

Probably couldn't even have handled, like, having this entire scene center around this shot on their face. But, like, they come through with flying colors here. That does a really good job on that scene. And several others that sort of center around that same basic idea. But, yeah, it's just really well done.

And, I mean, I'm not beating the dead horse on this scene, but it's, It's not just a shift, you know, we're going from A to B on emotion or A to B on preference to a song or something like that. This is many layers and almost swinging back and forth in and out of different layers. Like, okay, yes, no, yeah. It just really tells a fantastic story. Um, and yeah, I was, I was just blown away by that, by that one scene.

So, yeah. And that's, there are other scenes that the, the, the fan, the great part is that same actor does it a couple of more times. Yeah. Um, and I was very much impressed. That the whole scene sort of centers around the reaction shot and just what, what you can deliver with just the face and what, what comes with that, you know?

Yeah. It's, It's interesting, and it's something I, again, I didn't expect going into this movie because I expected it to be more of a comedy, and I expected it to be more, you know, silly, but yeah, as you get into it, there's some interesting things that, and yeah, Joshua is the director himself, so he comes up with some interesting ways that he plays with, you know, the Not even the camera work sometimes. It's just what he does with the camera and how he chooses to show the actors that I think is kind of original. Some of it is stuff I haven't seen before or haven't seen used in that way before. So that's saying something, too.

That, yeah, it's still kind of clever in the way it structures some of these scenes. Yeah. And I kind of mentioned this before. It is disarming. Not just the lie, but just the whole arc that the characters go on, I think.

And the situations that they're in. And the only thing that I can parallel it to that first, I guess, comes to mind first, to me, is when I would watch The Wonder Years when I was younger. Fred Savage was about my age. And, of course, it was set many, many years before You know, when I was coming up, but there were times where I would watch that show and the awkwardness of revealing yourself or the situation that you get yourself into and you're stuck there and you have to face the ramifications of that, of revealing yourself to someone. There were times as a kid I would change the channel because I couldn't handle that emotion of what he was having to deal with.

I was internalizing it too much. And there's several times in this movie you're like, I just want to look away because I would not want to be where this person is, what they're doing, and how they have to... Go. Along with it at that point. Exactly.

They've painted themselves into this corner and there's just no... easy way i mean it's it's all or nothing at that point you can't minorly get out of this anymore it's it's yeah it's yeah that's. Well done and the other thing i was going to say is that you know we we've. Gone on about the tone and the guard turn that but there's also other like you were saying before that that for you to also like the characters you have to have the the good stuff along the way there's like a camping trip in the middle of it that's just really nice. And it's like, it's this great. Scene and it really shows these characters kind of like what the basic... elements of these characters are and why we're supposed to care about them and why even when they do things that you really disagree with or when they do things that are just kind of like you're kind of disappointed in that you don't write them off because you still see, you know, there's a scene there or there's a scene with, you know, them, you know, in home later and you're just like, well, yeah, but they really are, you know, pretty, pretty well balanced people if you take that, you know, the main horrible situation out.

It's like even for their shortcomings, they're still good people. And it does keep you on there that it's not all heavy. And again, towards the end, there's more kind of jokes that come in. There's some really funny stuff at the end. So it's never like...

I don't want to get caught up so much in the dark tone because I think it still sort of plays like a comedy all the way through. It just becomes a dark comedy midway in there. Right. But yeah, I think it still works pretty well as a comedy all the way through. And I'm not...

I'm not saying, you know, this is, I don't want to go there. But what works for me and emotionally with me is something really bad happens in my family or something really, some really awkward situation comes along. The sooner I can deal with it with humor, the more capable I am in dealing with it in times of where I'm alone and I just have to sit and internalize and think about it. So if I can, with a friend or with the wife or with the kid or whatever, start making the jokes early on about the situation, it just makes me get a handle on it a little bit more. And that's almost how I think this was...

I think there might be some people that are. Confused by almost these dual tones that maybe ebb and flow. You know, it's heavy or it's sad or tense, and then there are jokes thrown in. Again, if you didn't have those jokes, you'd just shut down, I think. And it wouldn't even be believable.

Because, you know, life is funny most of the time. And we make it that way even in dire situations. It's like that's the only way we know how to deal with stuff, especially, you know, smart ass people like we are. I mean, I will, yeah, throw out, you know, stuff like that at the most inopportune moment sometimes because it really is the only way I know how to process it. Right.

Is to try to make light of it a little bit so that it's not so damn heavy. Right. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people that that really is how they deal with something that uncomfortable and dark and creepy. Yeah, and there's 10 or 15 moments, you know, someone comes to the door, someone comes to an office in this film that he has to face. And again, we've already said that, but the movie is almost set up For those to hit and for you to really feel, oh, God, he has to deal with this and he has to deal with it now.

And he can't, you know, it's it's and it's and it's real in that everybody's faced not necessarily a lie. I mean, we've all stretched the truth. And then had to deal with it. So this is just the worst case scenario. It really is about the worst case scenario.

You can't talk yourself out of this situation. So, I mean, everybody's gotten into that. Like you've said something and as soon as it out of your mouth, you're like. Oh, why did I just say that? Right.

This is the worst case scenario of what, Oh, what have I done? There's just, yeah. So it's, I think it does tap into a little bit of the, you know, we, to a lesser degree, people have gotten themselves into something like this and then had to go along with it or come clean and deal with the consequences. And this just elevates it to, to a really uncomfortable level. Um, and I'll, I'll, I'm going to bring up and talk about not specifically what's happening, but in the third act, um, which is really dealing with the revelation of it and what are we going to do now.

You know, because you have the person's initial reaction, which was fantastic. Yeah. And then a little break and then kind of dealing with it. And that felt so real. In so many movies you might have, you know, I don't know how to talk about it without, without revealing the movie, but you, you might have that first reaction and then maybe a montage or maybe some kind of separation or maybe, and, but this one, they just immediately go into, how are we going to fix this?

How are we going to not even, how are we going to solve the problem of what this is and what it means? But in the grand scheme of things of who are we and, and, and, Where are– and that ultimate revelation of– not revelation, but revealing, uncovering of who you are. Deciding at some point who I want to be. It felt so real. Yeah.

The conversation that happens there that I was– it was a real relationship. It was how people would really talk. And I was– that was captured very well. That's what I was going to say is I think one of the most impressive things about this movie is that relationship. I mean, it does sit around Joshua and Jess and, and the entire movie almost is, is sort of kind of hinges on this relationship.

And, and I think so much of, of what is built up as it goes on is nothing but that relationship. And especially by the time you hit that third act and, That's what I think has done so well is that it is real and it feels like a real relationship and these feel like real characters. And you get yourself into these bad situations in your life and sometimes you're doing things you don't like and sometimes you've done something stupid and you have to find a way to make up for it to this person that you still love. And, you know, it may be horrible, but how do you fix it? You know, it's like you still love them.

You still want to be with them. Now what do I do? You know? So it, it, it does so much of the entire thing is built around that. And I think it works and it works so well.

I, I sat there the whole time trying to figure out if they're actually in a relationship. Yeah. As time went, I mean, you can tell that in some movies that there really is a connection with people. And sometimes you go back and look at, you know, Bogey and McCall and stuff and be like, well, yeah, they have chemistry because they really are. And this one, I still don't even know that they are in the real world, but it definitely reads on screen.

Like, they are a couple and it really does feel like they are in a real relationship. And that's probably, I mean, their, their performances. Yeah. That, that kind of makes it, I mean, he does a good job at directing, but if anything, just, yeah, just is really does stand out in this. I mean, he does a good job, but so much of what goes on, In these performances, she kind of delivers on it.

In a way, I just went through and was looking at all the stuff she's been in, and a lot of it I haven't seen in a lot of indie films, and I'm going to have to go back and find them now because she does deliver in a way that I was not prepared for. In the beginning, she's so fun and light and comes off as likable, but I didn't know that she had that... punch that by the end of it, she just delivers this real and, and just hardcore performance that I'm just like, yep, that's an actress. And she, yeah, I need to see more stuff with her. And, and directorial wise, he let her go. You can tell that he wasn't afraid, you know, he's the star of the film and the director and you, there's, there's going to be some ego in that, but he was not afraid to let her just go.

And even upstage him, In some moments, yeah. And totally be comfortable with, like, we're going to let you go because this is just good. So, yeah, you've got to give kudos to that as well. They captured some really good stuff in it. And I hope enough people get to see it.

That's the thing. I know it's going to have a limited release. It's going to. Get out there, but yeah, I think if enough people talk about it and brought that up with him, that in this new world, not only is there this new technology of ways to get the movie, but it's also all make or break by word of mouth, and word of mouth isn't physical anymore. It's all virtual.

It's all tweeting, and it's all posting it on my Facebook page, and it's all, I mean, everything... you know, 90% of it now takes place over the internet. So it's like if enough people, you know, watch it and pass the word along and, you know, say this was good, this performance was good, you know, that's, that's how it gets out there at this point. And for smaller movies like this, that's important. So if nothing else, yeah, just to, to get that out there in our format, which, you know, you're. Listening to now.

So that's probably about it on that one without. Totally ruining it, ruining everything. I don't want to ruin it. It's, it's, um, Yeah. And it's better.

I mean, it really is something that's better to experience it that way. If somebody had told me what it was, I don't think it would have hit as well as it did. I think it works so much better when you get to that moment and go, oh, oh, okay. Wow. So, yeah, I think it works better not knowing what you're really 100% getting yourself into once you get in there.

So it's definitely worth checking out, and it'll be interesting to see what other people think about it, and hopefully a good. Amount of them get to see it. Should we move on to the next one? Yeah, I have no trouble moving on to the next movie. All right.

I hope I do this next movie justice. I want people to see this. Well, I'd like people to see both of them. Yeah. It was a good lineup, I have to say.

We had a good. This was sort of the opening night for Flyover Film Fest. And yeah, they opened it up with two really good movies. So next up is Another Earth. This is Dr.

Joan Tallis, the United States Planet Earths. Do you read me? Is anyone out there? We're getting feedback. Let's try another channel.

Hello? Hello? This is Dr. Joe. What does that mean?

I don't understand what that means. In the grand history of the cosmos, more than 13,000 million years. Old, our Earth is replicated elsewhere. There's another you out there. Now you begin to wonder, has the other me made the same mistakes I've made?

And is that me better than this me? Let me tell you a story. It's about a girl. She does something unforgivable. She goes to apologize, but she loses her nerve.

She lies to him. She thinks she might be able to make his life a little bit better. It was really just a way to survive what I've done. Again, I guess the only somewhat recognizable name would be William Mayfother, which we've brought up in years past. Actually, the first Flyover Film Fest that I went to and I saw, and we talked to J.T.

Petty, who is director of the other movie he was in that didn't get a wide release and kind of did get shafted when it came to distribution. Right. So, yeah, hopefully... Which. Is a very good movie, by the way.

It is a very good movie, and yeah, go seek The Burrowers if you haven't seen it yet. But, um, this is, see that again, it's, it's weird that he ends up in some of the stuff he does because this is another one that by reading the, you know, the basic setup or even watching the trailer, you get a very like science fiction feel to it, which really, once you're in there, it's not at all. I mean, it's, it's basically a drama with the backdrop of science fiction going on. Right. But it really literally is the backdrop kind of.

Right. So, uh, yeah. It's hanging over. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, it's interesting that it's probably kind of cashing in on that a little bit, which I guess is good. You've got a genre crowd out there and you've got people that will go see something just because it's got that tie into it. But the thing is, that almost didn't have to be there, you know? What goes on in the story is so strong, and the performances are so well done, that you really do not even have to have that. I think it's cool, and I'm a geek, so I kind of like...

Should we at least go into that base? I mean, it's kind of. Even if you watch the trailer. Yeah, you're going to get it from the trailer. That one's in the setup.

So, I mean, the basic sci-fi angle is the fact that they discover this other planet... That is similar to Earth, has the same oxygen level as a moon, and has pretty much the whole same basic setup as Earth. Extremely close. Well, and then as time goes on, it's closer. You're right.

It's getting closer to us. Right. And then. I guess we can kind of leave it at that. I mean, you hit a really kind of cool point midway in where you find out something else that I guess I'll leave.

Once again, you might find out about it before you see it. But again, I don't even think that is necessary. Not for the real strengths of this movie. I think it's fun, and by the end, it kind of gives you somewhere to go with the story. But.

I think, you know, again, the strengths don't lie in that. I think the stuff that's more impressive could have happened in just a basic drama set up around the other 75% of this movie. Right. Good sci-fi to me. Good sci-fi.

I mean, I love Star Wars and I love, you know, I love watching. I'm not a Star Trek fan per se, but I love the plausible hard science, science fictions that, where they throw out the what if, you know, however they need to set that up, are more intriguing to me. Not based on the science fiction, the technology, or, you know, the action that's going to come from it, but philosophically, how are we, as societally, going to deal with it, and more specifically, that person, the microcosm of who we are as humans, how are they, that one person, going to deal with it? And that's what all the classic, I mean, you mentioned Star Trek. That is what, you know, I mean, Star Trek had, you know, cheap effects.

Right. You can question whatever acting you want with Shaq. Right, right. But, I mean, the core of what was so good about it was the writing and the fact that it did pose these huge questions. Philosophical questions, sure.

Then the rest of the episode, they really are sort of addressing that more so than just fighting the green monster, which is a Goron, as we brought up before. But the other one I was thinking is like a Twilight Zone. Yeah. It very, I mean, even more impressively really was the writing on those that sets up a very normal circumstance and then throws this monkey wrench in and goes, okay, now. How do you deal with that?

Right. How do you, the viewer, feel about that? And then how does this character or the little piece of society that we've got here How do they react to what we've just messed up? It does pose these big questions. And this one, it does to some degree, but at the same time, I think it's so rooted in the human element, the basic performance angle that I think, once again, I think that overshadows even the grand sci-fi element that comes into play.

Right. It is nice to have because it does set up that immediate, we have to face this problem now because this is happening to everyone. And, um, obviously there are some major plot points that happen because of that. The end of the story wouldn't happen. The climax of the story wouldn't happen if it weren't for the science fiction ad.

Truthfully, neither would the beginning, the more I thought about it. I mean, you kind of do need it to book in the entire thing, really. I almost don't even want to go into that beginning part because that's so well done. Just that once you get into that set up, It's so well done, and so, I mean, you feel it coming, and it still is, it's so hard to watch. Right.

Yeah, but you know it's there, and it's that impending doom of, oh, God. And, yeah, so, I mean, I almost want to leave that alone and let you just sort of experience that. The thing, though, that still needs to be said about this more than anything, and you've already gone into that, is the relationship between the two. Yeah. Again, I've already even mentioned earlier, I, I'm not one for romance kind of, um, movie necessarily, but, and I don't know if you necessarily call this romance as more, more of a relationship.

It's a relationship definitely, but it, It's sort of eventually trying to be heading down the road of romance, maybe. And maybe saying romance might have just fucked it up a little bit too much. I don't know. Well, no, but it probably turns off a certain amount of people, too. There's, oh, romance crap.

And I'm like, no, this starts off in a very bad place. Right. And it also kind of enters into a weird element in the middle where it's just, a very strange relationships. I mean, it, it's not at all a romance by, by traditional means at all. It eventually, because it's dealing with the relationship between these two characters that can come into play as it usually does.

I mean, hell, that's just the real world, but. Yeah, it, to me is that will probably, you know, turn some people off. So don't go thinking that that's what this is about because it's really, it's a hell of a lot deeper than that. First and foremost, it's just, smarter and plotted out a lot better than anything that would fall into that category most. Of the time.

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but it's almost as disturbing of a relationship as you'd have a Harold and Maude kind of thing. This isn't right somehow, but at the same time, it's okay. We're okay with it, but this isn't. It almost ties into the last movie we were talking about where you enter that there's a lie. Now, this is a small one compared to the other way, or it's not near as disturbing, but then it gets you, it starts painting you in that corner.

And the deeper that the character gets into this situation, it starts to take that same level of, Oh God, now I'm so far in, I can't, fix things without destroying everything. Eventually, the revelation is a bigger lie. Yeah. I mean, it really is earth-shattering to this person. Yeah.

Because it's based in reality. Right. The other lie is just a flat-out lie. Right. And by the end of it, it's the horribleness that makes it so bad.

Right. Where this is a lie to cover up something horrible that really happened. Right. That the person probably should have known about. Yeah.

So, I mean, it's... I mean, I guess along those lines, just to go into the relationship or again, not even to go into a lot of details, just the more of the praise end of it, which first and foremost is Britt Marling is her name. When they started making this, she wasn't even in the Screen Actors Guild. She'd made like one other independent movie and that was it. And yeah, really interesting to see where she goes because she ends up, delivering this, this amazing performance in this.

And she's also co-writer. Yeah. On it. Yeah. She, she wrote and that's what, again, that's what they were saying she did.

It's like she got out of acting, you know, or went to Georgetown. Was it Georgetown? Yeah. And, and like graduated. And worked for Goldman Sachs or something like that.

Or are you not going into that? No, I was just trying to think. Wasn't she the valedictorian? Valedictorian, yeah. Yeah, she graduated valedictorian and then, yeah, had left to go work at Goldman Sachs and then came back and decided, oh, I don't want to, you know, wait to get cast in a movie.

So not only wrote one, wrote two movies and then went. Off to find these two different guys and got them to direct these movies that she'd written and then is in both of them and delivers, at least in this one, this, like, powerhouse performance. Right. She. She instantly went to near the top of my list of people that I want to watch in a movie.

I will seek out and watch whatever she's in. I'll give her a free five-movie run. She could go do Twilight now, and I'd still go see it. That's how good she is. Here's the most impressive thing, as far as I'm concerned, is she... it's never over the top.

It's always this reserved. In fact, it's, it's very, very low key. That first half of the movie, it's the way that she underplays everything. And the way that she plays her uncomfortableness being around people and, and how much she wants to kind of distance herself from people that makes it so impressive. And then once she starts interacting with someone, there's this other part of her that kind of opens up and, and you see, you know, Again, what an amazing actress she can be in a more normal setting, but it still is never over the top.

It's not one of those, oh, you know, here's the Oscar clip, here it comes. You never really get this over the top emotional thing. It's all very real and very, you know, just this human characteristics that she just really taps into this character perfectly. Yeah, very subtle, very real. That's the only way I can put it.

It's very real. You don't ever feel like she's acting. You don't ever feel like anything's a strain or that they're trying to prove anything in any scene. It's just exactly the way you would think this character, as you're learning this character. And she really does evolve.

She really does... You can see. It's this full spectrum because she sort of devolves and then comes back around it and you do see her evolve again. It is this really impressive and full range of this one character. No, I can't say enough good things about her.

Again, it's Britt Marling. Yes. Go look for her. You're going to hear from her. We already. heard them discussing.

Yeah. She already got picked up by like the biggest agency in the world. Like after making these like two little indie movies that at this point nobody's seen yet, they already saw her and picked her up and she's like making like huge studio stuff, which again, I hope isn't a bad thing. I hope that, you know, she gets, you know, the, the money and the acclaim that she wants going into acting. But at the same time, I hope they continue to give her impressive projects like this.

Right. Um, the other half of this relationship is William Maypother and bring something really different. I think I've, I've seen him in a handful of things. I haven't seen him in a ton, but what I've seen him in, this is very different. This is a very different type of character for him.

And again, by the end, I'm more impressed with it. Like in the beginning, I thought maybe he was just going to go the way I expected him to go with this type of thing. But, As it pans out, it's like there's that little midsection with them that he really kind of delivers and does a lot better job than I was afraid, you know, we were going to get into. He ends up doing a really good job with it as well. He moments where he is almost childlike.

Yeah. And that was an interesting way to act. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Again, I was afraid that's where it was going to stop and it wasn't going to get much more than that. But when, you know, when their relationship starts to develop, I think, yeah, he does bring a lot more to it than, than I expected going in. Oh yeah. No, definitely. And he, you can almost see a scene by scene as the friendship or even it at the beginning, there is no relationship, you know, and, and they've, they're spending time together, but there's no relationship.

And it's almost, like I said at the beginning, it is very childlike. And then you can see a maturing of that person. And he's almost brought back to, oh, this is a glimpse of what he really was like before. Yeah. And that's subtle as well, those changes.

And I think he did. They timed that right. They paced that right. He did a good job with that. I kind of was like you.

I was like, okay, we're going to get. X performance, and it's going to go throughout. I was happy to see it take a different turn. Both their performances go in a really impressive way. This was a really small production, the number of people, and you can definitely see that everybody had a hand in a very personal film.

They really spent a lot of time putting themselves into it and making themselves fit into it. And it pays off. Like I said, you could take the sci-fi element out of it, which is fascinating, and it would still be extremely strong. An extremely strong movie. Really, I'm thinking so much of this could be like a stage play.

Like you could almost do... a lot of it as just a two character performance. I mean, there's a, right. There's other scenes that you would have to work around, but I mean, there's so much of it that is just this, this setting and these two characters and how much is, is built around their relationship and their interaction with each other that, yeah, it's something that it, yeah, that it's just. All about that relationship. Um, I guess the other star, the unseen star, uh, the director, uh, it's Mike Cahill, uh, And again, this is a first time director.

He had not done a feature film at all and does a really good job. I think it's, it's what he does is creative, but it's never like flashy. I mean, it's, it's always kind of interesting and, and you can tell that he's putting time and has a vision that he's going for, but at the same time, it's not really over the top. It's not hitting you over the head with it. It's just like an impressive visual style that, again, for a guy on his first movie, it's, it's impressive to see that he's already kind of got a handle on that and, and will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

No, it, it, the hues that they built in, do you know, do you notice that, um, bluish hue, especially in the outdoors? Yeah. That, and I, I guess that comes with, you know, the other planet maybe coming in. I don't, I don't know where I'm going with it, but it, it, it, it is carried throughout and, um, But you see when there's a cleaning and reconstruction of a house throughout the movie. And at the beginning, the movie's a little bit more grainy, a little bit more choppy, a little bit.

It has that hue. And as it progresses, it's brighter, it's yellower, it's... cleaner the house is getting better our lives are getting. Better visuals lighten up in the way that the characters start to and at least in a certain portion of it anyway you do get that visual representation of what's going on in definitely his life but also in both of theirs, because it, what, what's going on in his life is affecting her as well. Right. And it's, it's his home.

And even the eyes that we see everything through are almost all going through the same transformation that even these characters are. And that's, Again, a first-time filmmaker, that's just good. You know, that's a practiced. Student of film, if nothing else, that he would have... Because, I mean, early on, you wouldn't even think about it.

You're just, here's the story, and I want to shoot this, and I want to shoot this. But to have that much planning ahead of time, that early on in your career, is pretty impressive. And especially for such a small budget. That's what I was going to say, though. I mean, they were talking about, you know, William Mayfather was there talking about just what... a fraction of what this was compared to the other movies that even were at Sundance, which are massively independent, small-budget movies.

But the thing that I was going to say is it doesn't look it. Not at all. You can tell. I mean, it's a small cast. It was a small crew working on it.

But when you look at the film, to me, it does not feel like a super cheap movie. I mean, it's an indie movie, but it could very easily, you could throw it out there with all these other indie movies and not tell people that. And I don't think they would know the difference because I think it's quality wise and visual representation of everything is easily on par with everything else. It's clean and polished film. Well shot.

Well edited. I think extremely well edited. Yeah, definitely. Well acted, and they made it on a shoestring, a fraction of a shoestring. Yeah, so he tells the.

Almost, almost obscenely cheap. So, I think they were probably paying for it themselves, probably. Could be, the way it sounded like. The way it sounds like. So, obviously they couldn't reveal that.

But yeah, it was exceptionally well polished for something that was, again, so cheap and first-time actors, first-time directors on a lot of it. Yeah, I can't say enough about it. It does not feel that way at all. Yeah, I mean, should we leave it at that with that one too? I don't...

I mean, the wrap-up is. Again, ties back into it and is interesting, but... So much of it is the mid-portion of that movie, and so much of it is that relationship that you would end up spoiling the end of it, and at the same time, I don't think you would even get that much out of it. No, I don't want anybody knowing very much about this. It's too good, and I don't want to spoil something like that.

But again, that is The Lie and Another Earth are both of the ones we saw tonight at Flyover Film Fest, and definitely go. Check both of them out, but yeah, the, another earth is amazing. Go watch it. It's both of them are worth seeing. Another earth is a must see as far as I'm concerned.

It was pretty impressive. Yeah. Um, yeah, that's, uh, that's most of what we're, we're going to leave this with. I think, uh, I was trying to think of stuff to throw out there for you guys in upcoming episodes, but there's so much again, this, this came in and shifted things and, we've got a few we're working on. I threw a movie out last week.

We're going to try to do, if we ever all sit down in the same place at the same time, that's an uphill battle right there. Um, I've been forever talking to, uh, Rick about doing another Bigfoot episode. So we're possibly going to get one of those in, in the future. I won't pin it down as the wind. Cause you know how his schedule doesn't make it any easier working that in.

So, but that's another potential one coming up and, um, we're not too far away from another road trip. So, We'll see where that goes. I guess that's about it. If nothing else, we do want to say thank you to everybody at Flyover Film Fest. They did a great job.

They put on a really good show. Again, it is flyoverfilmfest.com. It's definitely a website to bookmark and go back to for next year when it comes around. Or if you're a filmmaker, go back and see how you can submit for upcoming years. It's a really impressive festival.

It It does pull in a lot of the same caliber of stuff that's ending up at Sundance. And for a much smaller festival, that's saying a lot. Because you see a lot of film festivals out there and a lot of them get just whatever gets sent to them. You see a lot of stuff at these where they sort of are really hardcore about what they want to put in theirs. And they bring in kind of the top tier of independent film out there and stuff that's sort of... bringing in stuff that you don't always see.

It is maybe people that are in this mid-portion of the country that don't get a ton of work, you know, don't get a ton of attention, definitely, in New York and L.A. So it's kind of interesting because I think it also opens up new avenues. That maybe nobody's paid attention to before. You might find a new actor like some of these or a new director that might have gotten overlooked at a huge film festival that, you know, has... couple hundred movies and has all these big names there that are overshadowing them I think these you know they bring in the better films and they also bring in new people that they kind of need to get the attention that they might not be getting at other film fests so it's definitely worth checking out if you are in the area can make your way there it is Flyover Film Fest anything else you want to pass along Greg?

No thanks for listening. Alright that about does it we will return next week same geek time same geek feed thanks for listening Bye. Bye. Bye. Where the rooms are a collection of our lives.

This is a place where. Our dreams come true. This is a place that I call my home. Hi, this is Joshua Leonard. You're listening to Movie Meltdown.

Thanks for being with us today or tonight or whenever you happen to be listening to this. This show is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by Brian Renfro, with opening music performed by The Empires. To help support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com for ways that you can contribute or advertise.