Your brain is throbbing, stomach grumbling, and the only thing that you can think about is a glass of water. That is, until your eyes open and are shocked to see that there is a stranger next to you and you don’t know where you are. Yes, these are some of the unfortunate symptoms that can be associated with the morning after a night of drinking. If not experienced first hand, then today’s Staff Pick Premiere “GARFIELD” will give you an inside glimpse at all of the foggy details. For director Georgi Banks-Davies, she wasn’t interested in looking at the negative consequences of alcohol or going home with someone you’ve just met though. Instead, Banks-Davies explores the vulnerability and unique energy that is specific to the situation in which two strangers wake up next to one another and find a connection in the daylight hours.
When first seeing “GARFIELD” at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the Vimeo curation team couldn’t help but love how natural the film felt onscreen. The pauses in dialogue, the genuine laughter and chemistry between the film’s only two characters Garfield, played by Matthew Trevannion and Krishna, by Mandeep Dhillon felt like we were watching something authentic and special unfold. When speaking with Banks-Davies, we learned that a unique approach was taken to elicit such memorable results. “I’m a firm believer that if an actor truly understands their character, there are no wrongs and that’s the ethos we took into the shoot” she told us. So, after instructing the actors to show up on set with proper hangovers, the script was used only as a blueprint and the film was captured by director of photography Todd Banhazl in a series of single takes filled with improvisations and no blocking. “After around 6 or 7 takes, when the action repeated itself, we stopped” Banks-Davies said, and then began the editing process. Which Banks-Davies warns is a hard task, giving credit to editor Julia Knight for finding a way to seamlessly cut together everything.
What the filmmakers created in “GARFIELD” in the end is an interesting look at two seemingly different characters’ identities. The similarities they share beneath their superficial selves as well as their assumed identities as judged by the audience. Banks-Davies explains that during the festival circuit, “Different cultures, races and genders read [”GARFIELD”] very differently.” Interpretations ranged from classifying the film as a tense drama to a charming comedy, which makes us excited to premiere “GARFIELD” today and share the film with the Vimeo community at large. We’re curious to know what identities you see in these two characters and if they change as the film progresses.
Check out more of Vimeo’s Staff Pick Premieres here.