Press Kit

Exhibition Formats: 16mm, MiniDV (NTSC), and DVD (NTSC)

SYNOPSES

One-line Synopsis (25 words)

A dramatic short exploring how far a reclusive man is willing to go to satisfy one of life’s most compelling drives: the drive to reproduce.

Long Synopsis (96 words)

A dramatic short about a troubled man named Gary (John Rykelykhuizen).  Gary’s a reclusive, middle-aged nobody, obsessed with the idea of reproducing himself.  He’s caught up in a hostile social climate, which furthers his isolation and exacerbates his desperation.  But despite this, he presses on. 

Gary eventually meets Madonna (Lulu Mendez), an old street woman for, as Tom McSorley of Take One Magazine calls, “some of the most awkward and decidedly twisted sex in all of Canadian cinema.”  The film explores deep into the psyche of the protagonist, touching the viewer in more ways than one.

DIGITAL STILLS

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This film reflects my own struggles with the concepts of procreation, and the growing realization of the limitations of my life.  As a gay male, approaching middle-age, having offspring of my own seems like a distant possibility. As I become ever more cognizant of my own life cycle and its inherent limitations, I become increasingly aware that my time and my biological makeup will soon come to an end.  And it’s this idea that inspired me to create the protagonist Gary.

In continuing my exploration into marginalized lifestyles and sexualities, I wanted to create a protagonist that was in keeping with this perspective.  As a result, Gary is not your typical hero.  He’s more feared than loved and more despised than admired.  His behaviours are, undoubtedly, odd, disturbing, and deviant.  Added to this, his obsession with his own self-replication and his seemingly disregard for others in achieving his goals makes him even more loathsome and sad.  And perhaps viewers may, as a consequence, find it difficult to feel compassion for the protagonist.  However, to stay true to the character and what he represents, it was important for me not to compensate for his unlikeable qualities by presenting Gary in a deceptively positive light.  I think this would have underplayed and trivialized the daily struggles and hardships he faces.  But more importantly, it would have rejected the validity of the protagonist’s way of life--whatever life that may be.

Although the characterization of the protagonist seemed fairly certain, the film’s production was not.  The film was a long time in the making.  What should have taken only a few months to complete ended up taking 2 years.  This was due to my dramatic shift in how I chose to tell the story.  My original process was to allow the story to drive the images, as opposed to the reverse.  This proved disastrous.  The rushes were at best lacklustre, and the characters were shallow and incomplete.  As a result, over the course of the second year, I changed my focus completely and allowed the images to dictate how the story unfolded.  In addition, I further developed the characters and created a few more scenes.  In the end, I re-shoot over 75% of the original film, driving the costs up significantly.  However, the results were dramatic.  The extra year and expenses involved were well worth it.

The cast also presented its own challenges.  Most of the actors had virtually no acting experience.  This was particularly true for Lulu Mendez, who never acted in her entire life.  Ironically, Mendez was chosen to play the most demanding and the most difficult of any of the roles in the film: the old street woman named Madonna.  Mendez may have lacked experience, but she more than made up for this fact in her delivery.  Her performance was exceptional. 

So strong was her portrayal of her character that an audience member at the test screening was unable to distinguish between Mendez, the mentally sound actor, and Madonna, the mentally ill character.  As a result, the audience member was convinced that Mendez was, in real life, mentally ill and incapable of consenting to the simulated sex scene (because of the supposed mental illness).  The Ottawa Police’s Sexual Assault Division was called and this, naturally, prompted a police investigation.  Luckily, no charges were laid. 

Everything, in the end, turned out just fine.  Things usually do.  And for unfortunate characters like Gary, the same seems to apply. 

CREDITS

Copyright © 2006 by Ken Takahashi. All rights reserved.

This story, characters, names, and incidents portrayed are fictitious.  Any similarities to the name, character, or history of any person or to places, buildings, and products are entirely coincidental and unintentional.

No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Ken Takahashi is an award-winning Canadian independent filmmaker.  Takahashi’s previous film, The Milkman (2001), won multiple-awards and has screened at film festivals worldwide including New York, London, and Toronto.

Takahashi has a background in broadcasting, where he’s freelanced for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and produced shows for CHUO and CKCU. He's interviewed numerous guests including Amon Tobin, Merzbow, and the Third Eye Foundation.

He's produced and engineered radio commercials for the Beastie Boys (Grand Royal/Capital Records), the Tragically Hip, and UNCLE (Mo Wax Records). Takahashi also composes orchestral music for film.

Takahashi is the former President of IFCO (the Independent Filmmakers Co-operative of Ottawa) and has a B.A. (Hons.) in Psychology, a B.A. in Philosophy, and a law degree (LL.B.) from the University of Ottawa.

DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAHY

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