Week 2 of this Substack being live and saw great response to my article related to seeing beyond the brief. I think a lot of creative directors can relate to this.
Additionally, worked on a revision for Milk Then Blood, which I discuss a bit below and some scenes for The Selling Stage, which is making progress.
What I Watched
Saw a bunch of good things this week, including the only TV show I consistently watch: Survivor. But the main thing I can’t stop thinking about is Julia Ducournau’s Alpha. I’ve loved her work since Raw and had high expectations for this one despite some of the tepid responses I’ve seen online. But happy to say that walking out of this its firmly my favorite of the year so far (Alongside Nirvana: The Band The Show The Movie)
The Logline from Letterboxd: Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.
The most obvious read of this movie is an allegory for AIDS where a disease in the world of the film transforms people into marble statues in excruciating pain and with a lot of imagery pulled from the AIDS epidemic. I found the practical effects of this disease so be something that lodged itself in my brain that I can’t stop thinking about.
It stands not only as an allegory for the disease but also the way in which the dead are enshrined in the minds of those who live on, literally losing their status as a person and transforming into an object that the survivors must carry. This also speaks to the burdens of grief and how it ripples through families.
Incredible performances and a lot of unforgettable imagery. It’s stuck with me since I first saw it. Can’t recommend it enough, though don’t expect Raw or Titane. It’s less body horror and more of a family drama.
What I Read
Related to the revision to Milk Then Blood, I started diving into Jack Epps Jr.’s Screenwriting is Rewriting. The idea of revision passes that focus on specific elements of a script (a pass for each character, a thematic pass etc.) should be tremendously obvious but I think its something that a lot of screenwriters don’t think about.
Upon getting notes, I find that I become overwhelmed and just try to tackle the big points and work my way down to smaller elements. This is probably pretty inefficient as you’re tackling changes piece by piece rather than the whole. This can strengthen an entire throughline rather than being super targeted.
For example, a storyline within Milk Then Blood deals with the confusion between two plants: Bay Laurel and Oleander leaves. Based on a real life incident where the Oleander leaves were confused for another safer plant, this storyline adds some tension towards the idea of accidental (or is it) poisoning of a group of people.
On my first pass, this storyline was largely touched on intermittently and was talked about in terms of the leaf itself. However, through a character targeted revision of the main antagonist, I found that I could add a lot of tension towards hints that this character had been growing Oleander and purposefully removing the flower buds in an effort to hide what she’s been growing in her garden (for purposes of poisoning.)
This little detail of carrying gardening sheers and relocating scenes to a garden where we see her subtly removing these flowers and placing one in the hair of the protagonist gives the character a lot of richness while laying out hidden details right in front of the reader. This mechanism pass also ensured each mention either escalates danger or tightens the noose.
Excited to dive in further to this book and highly recommend it to my screenwriting friends out there.
What I Collected
In keeping on with the theme of Julia Ducournau, I picked up the 2 New French Extremity Collections from Umbrella. I’ve been a huge fan of the Extremity subgenre, so much so that my latest script Milk Then Blood is heavily inspired by it.
What interests me about New French Extremity is how often the films are written off as if their violence is the whole point. A lot of criticism stops at the surface: the rape scene, the mutilation, the blood, the violation. But the films that endure in this movement do more than provoke. They use extremity to force questions about grief, sex, power, decay, family, and the body itself. The discomfort isn’t separate from the meaning. It’s part of how the meaning is delivered.
Critics tend to ignore the depth of these films due to the form in which they appear. These negative statements, made by critics, raise the question as to where the line between artistic value and exploitation occurs, or if it even exists. Films belonging to the New French Extremity movement often carry great intellectual and artistic value, with a clear theme that flows under all of them, yet are often ignored due to the way in which the values are presented.
The collections both have special features that approach these films in a way that highlights their critical value. They feature some of the more well known entries like Martyrs and Fat Girl, as well as some I’ve not yet seen. Fat Girl in particular is a difficult watch. Tremendously confrontational and it’s final act really challenges you as a viewer. Not sure how soon i’ll dive back into that.
In any case, looking forward to diving back into these films as I work on a new revision of Milk Then Blood.
Anyway, what are you planning on checking out this weekend? Any thoughts on distribution? What’s a physical release you’ve been eyeing up or recommend?
Let me know below!
-Adam
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