Introduction

0:02

good afternoon is it it’s evening now

0:04

actually it’s Thursday and the days

0:08

weeks evenings hours kind of all blend

0:12

into one another right now I don’t know

0:14

about for you at home and for you Terry

0:16

but for me for sure

0:18

I’m Ryan Ferguson I’m the curator film

0:19

at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and I’m

0:21

here with Hamilton bass writer and

0:24

director Terry Odette and we’re going to

0:28

talk about this week’s film that the agh

0:30

presented with our friends at film

0:31

movement who are in New York City

0:35

the wild goose lake so this was a fun

0:39

one I think because earlier today you

0:44

just texted me and said I do not like

0:45

this film you have an hour later you

0:49

text me and said it got better yeah I

0:54

think it’s good to have an honest

0:55

conversation about what we do and do not

0:57

like about a film – so yeah so I don’t

Who is Terrance Odette

1:01

know I guess we can set it up a little

1:02

bit the filmmaker of the wild goose lake

1:05

is Jo Yunnan he is made I think five or

1:13

six features now his most recent feature

1:15

before this was black holes a nice

1:16

winner of the Golden Bear at the Burrow

1:18

at Berlin in 2014 and that film is

1:22

available if you are if you liked this

1:24

and you want to watch some more of his

1:26

work on Google Play YouTube I believe in

1:30

both those it’s pay it’s a VOD situation

1:32

and but it’s also on shutter so if your

1:34

subscriber to shutter you can watch it

1:36

on there and his 2003 feature uniforms

1:40

on fan draw so I before before we get

1:46

like too deep into talking about the

1:48

film itself I think one of the things

1:50

that is interesting is the film is set

1:52

in Wuhan China which I think every

1:56

single person who is currently sitting

1:58

at home watching this right now has

2:01

become very at least familiar with the

2:03

idea that Wuhan the city of Wuhan exists

2:08

but probably most of us haven’t actually

2:11

seen inside the streets

2:13

the canals the waterways it’s a it’s a

2:16

it’s on the Yangtze it’s a it’s a major

2:21

city in central China and is called I

2:25

believe the city of rivers so the wild

2:28

goose lake is referring to a body of

2:32

water that touches the city of Wuhan so

2:34

and also in the film again when you’re

2:37

when you’re dealing with people on the

2:41

fringes of society they often speak in

2:43

heavier dialects so it’s actually a

2:46

really interesting for those who may be

2:49

familiar with the language noticed the

2:51

harsh dialect the Wuhan dialect in there

2:55

so there’s a couple interesting quick

2:57

little notes about the film especially

2:58

given the fact that again we’re also

3:00

familiar with the concept of Wuhan right

3:03

now but not really anything else about

3:05

it

3:07

so I your your opinion of the film

Terrances thoughts on the film

3:11

change throughout let me tell me tell us

3:13

I guess a little bit about what we

3:14

thought about the film when I when we

3:18

started watching with my daughter

3:20

Bridget last night and I watched the

3:25

first 20 25 minutes actually get by what

3:31

I’ve gone another 20 seconds I would

3:33

have seen the guy’s head pop off so and

3:37

then I would at least maybe went oh I’m

3:39

just gonna see cuz I wouldn’t I wouldn’t

3:42

have expected something that violent

3:43

coming from it I just wasn’t I were the

3:47

first thing I noticed about it for me

3:48

was that it wasn’t anything anything new

3:53

being told it was a gang no our kind of

3:57

film being set up with the quiet the

4:00

quiet the quiet bad guy off to the side

4:02

you probably got a heart of gold because

4:04

we know he has a wife you know and then

4:07

he’s doing something you know it and I

4:08

and I was like a little and and to me it

4:13

wasn’t that good

4:16

interesting part was how organized they

4:18

are at stealing bikes so so I just

4:21

didn’t find it all that original and I

4:23

was like oh you know I just when I watch

4:25

a film especially a film that’s not

4:29

Hollywood I I don’t want a Hollywood

4:31

concept and and and to me it did right

4:35

away it was going down a Hollywood

4:37

concept as I watched it and when the

4:40

head popped off and and and then you

4:43

know as it went off I kind of just kept

4:45

going with it and I got somewhat

4:46

involved because of the story structure

4:48

because of how it was told you were

4:50

going back you were seeing his story you

4:52

went ahead at one point and then she

4:54

told her story as to how why the wife

4:57

didn’t come and meet him and then it got

4:59

complex and all but at the same time I

5:01

still found it to be a guy making a know

5:06

our Hollywood film and and I didn’t

5:09

really I didn’t really care to see that

5:11

that’s that’s really what came down to

5:13

it is I don’t really want to watch film

5:15

I got its I’d rather watch an old

5:17

black-and-white noir film I mean watch

5:19

to once upon time in Hollywood because I

5:22

don’t really care to see that stories

5:24

and it’s gonna be incredibly was

5:27

autistic and this was this just was

5:31

massively misogynistic and there were

5:35

and it was not part of the point they

5:37

were not telling a story about that it

5:38

just existed they were just allowing

5:40

women to be that yeah I think taking a

The style of the film

5:44

slightly different angle on the really

5:48

have heavy sort of genre style like the

5:52

styling of it being set you know as an

5:54

as an waar we have a very like you said

5:57

you’d kind of rather watch a

5:58

black-and-white American film from the

6:00

50s or something like that I thought it

6:02

was interesting to take all of the

6:04

tropes of that style and of that type of

6:07

film and then put it into this like the

6:10

cinematography that like the world of

6:13

contemporary cinema that sort of it

6:17

seems like a lot of that could be making

6:21

too broad a generalization here but a

6:23

lot of Chinese like cinema is kind of

6:27

style izing things much

6:29

much like maybe Nikolas winning refunds

6:33

films but that sort of neon sheen to it

6:36

so seeing that all of those like set in

6:39

stone tropes of a van war film applied

6:44

to a story being told in a in a in a

6:47

contemporary color palette I thought was

6:49

was interesting yeah I agree with you

6:53

know the difficulty of how that can

6:56

could sit in depictions of characters

7:00

and yeah like you said some of the

7:03

misogynistic sides of it mm-hmm

7:07

what I really really did enjoy about the

7:09

film was the cinematography I know you

7:13

had mentioned when we kind of came back

7:15

and talked a little bit on before we

7:16

went on that the look it looked really

7:18

good oh yeah I agree

7:20

visually visually it was really

7:22

interesting to watch you almost if I

7:26

gotta turn the sound down it would have

7:27

probably enjoyed it even more like I

7:31

couldn’t hate it but you know like I

7:33

just but visually it was and a very

7:36

competent director once again just

7:37

really interesting stuff just I mean

7:41

there’s a couple moves in there I

7:43

wouldn’t have liked a couple there’s a

7:45

scene and there’s scenes in there I

7:46

don’t I don’t I don’t know why the boat

7:48

scene was in there and it was and the

7:51

spit cake was a little bit much

7:53

and I don’t know why that was needed I

7:55

liked the boat scene it felt like it

The boat scene

7:59

kind of transported them out of the like

8:02

the you know the real-world reality that

8:05

they were stuck in there was something

8:06

there was something really like the

8:08

backgrounds like the sky it seemed just

8:10

like an otherworldly it seemed very

8:12

staged very like a false

8:18

yeah like a false environment that they

8:19

were in I don’t know there’s something

8:20

about it that I thought was very but I

8:23

can I can appreciate that not really

8:24

contributing to the story and it

8:26

particularly strong and and that would

8:29

be my my comment would be the visual

8:32

stuff didn’t contribute enough to to the

8:37

story so this is just my opinion it’s

8:40

not you know I’m not but for me an image

8:44

is the syntax the grammar of film and

8:48

more important for me than the dialogue

8:52

so the reactions always more important

8:54

than something that said for me in a

8:56

film and and this was full of incredible

9:01

visuals that for the most part a lot of

9:05

them to me didn’t matter to the story

9:07

and that and that’s that so that’s

9:10

something I mean like like that you know

9:12

I realized that I you know I just

9:14

watched a film two nights ago on the

9:17

canopy from the 70s I’m kind of I mean

9:21

I’m contradicting myself here because I

9:22

watched these Italian films from the

9:25

early 70s on canopy that they have all

9:27

the mafioso and this one was called live

9:30

like a die like a man and it

9:32

was horribly misogynistic and it was

9:36

violent as all get-out had an amazing

9:40

motorcycle chase at the beginning like

9:42

it was everything I’m contradicting

9:44

myself but I watched but I watched it as

9:47

pure I was a ten year old boy watching

9:51

that late at night you know where I

9:53

shouldn’t be watching that you know kind

9:55

of film and and I watched it with you

9:58

know kind of abandonment but but so to

10:02

watch this now so I’m calm you know once

10:06

again I apologize I’m contradicting

10:08

myself you know I why why did I not like

10:11

this I guess I expected more and maybe

10:12

that’s my my own fault for maybe wanting

10:16

to expect more out of something

10:18

contemporary there were there were a

The set pieces

10:22

couple really I thought a couple really

10:24

major interesting set pieces in the film

10:29

two of the scenes like

10:31

I really really enjoyed that sort of

10:33

fight sequence that you know comes out

10:36

of the bike gang the discussion of how

10:40

to steal the the motorbikes and that big

10:42

brawl that sort of ensues it just was it

10:46

kind of mixed a bit of you know with

10:49

chop-socky action like kind of wild

10:52

visual action language but with this

10:55

like really interesting choreography and

10:57

focus and then the other one was that

10:59

sort of dance sequence which is the line

11:04

dancing yeah yeah those two sequences

11:08

were just so amazingly filmed

11:11

interestingly that dance sequence it

11:12

reminded me so much of one of the camera

11:15

passes in long day’s journey into night

11:17

which was a film that we screened at the

11:20

aged aged Film Festival this year was

11:22

one of my favorites of the festival the

11:24

cinema tong cinematographer dong Jing

11:26

song is actually the same

11:28

cinematographer on that film oh really

11:30

oh yeah some interesting overlap in the

11:35

in the in the visual language of the

11:38

film’s well they when it hit the I mean

11:41

I did like the shoe scene with everyone

11:43

in there glowing shoes then afterwards

11:44

all milling about as a gang members or

11:47

whatever off the side with us silly

11:49

because you mostly see in North America

11:52

at least you see six year old girls

11:55

wearing those shoes I really yeah you

11:58

know but it was it was fun but it also

12:00

it did that’s where it kind of almost

12:02

slipped for me they reminded me of a

12:04

shoeshine key film or judge on big guy

12:08

judge MP you know it reminded me of

12:10

something he would do in the middle of

12:12

one of his films it was just this would

12:14

happen and we’d pass by it

12:15

mmm you know and there would be

12:18

something going on like in his film that

12:21

would have been a conversation while

12:22

they were dancing which is also very

12:23

good art and band apart and you know

12:26

that kind of a so I like I loved I did I

12:28

was entertained by that – I agree with

12:30

you an end-of-line that I thought that –

12:34

it’s not the same thing I said oh this

12:36

is kind of like this is gonna be like a

12:39

karateka movie sort of like there’s

12:41

gonna be that kind of old boy like weird

12:44

accelerated you know violence but then

12:47

it would sink back into being this

12:48

realistic thing so I’m obviously the

12:52

director wanted to do that make it just

12:54

sort of take every style that he felt

12:57

like playing with and play with it but

12:59

you know yeah I think it again I feel

Contemporary cinema

13:02

like the film played with a lot of

13:03

different things and and was successful

13:06

was very successful in some areas and

13:08

and you know obviously we’ve talked

13:10

about some of the things we didn’t

13:13

collectively or individually feel was

13:15

we’re as successful but I mean overall I

13:18

thought I I mean that I can watch

13:20

something that just looks good for hours

13:22

and hours because I a lot of the time

13:24

I’m so enamored with the craft of you

13:29

know shot composition cinematography

13:30

again those big set pieces I can be a

13:33

bit of a sucker for that I really really

13:35

enjoyed those those ones in particular

13:38

yeah okay well let me ask you what what

13:41

in your where do you put this film in

13:44

contemporary cinema where would you does

13:48

it have a place like a like a genre

13:51

place or is it I feel like it it kind of

13:55

is again it seems like something that I

13:59

I was able to like really place it in a

14:01

couple positions but then we’re talking

14:03

about a film that’s that kind of is

14:05

touching on a few different things so

14:07

it’s stylistically it felt like I mean I

14:11

I was reminded all the way through of

14:14

long day’s journey into night he even

14:15

though that those films are quite

14:17

different there’s there’s there’s a

14:20

similar visual language there’s a sense

14:22

of a bit of an overlap of at times of

14:26

dream you know the dream world or the

14:30

fantastic world with with like really

14:33

harsh reality or real scene so I don’t

14:36

know where I would place it alongside

14:40

other contemporary films aside from

14:43

perhaps again there’s this I think it’s

14:47

interesting when we’re talking about

14:48

something like a film like parasite a

14:50

film like this the film were about to

14:53

start talking about next week’s

14:54

selection baccara where it is these

14:58

yeah it’s this it’s this mix of like

15:01

very contemporary moments with a lot of

15:03

classical filmmaking technique applied

15:08

to them to sort of and that that sense

15:11

of unexpectedness where where the

15:14

where’s the director taking this piece

15:17

of work at this time this do you find

15:19

this performance matter to you in the

15:22

sense to care like actual acting

15:24

performance so when I’m watching the and

Performances

15:28

I forgive me I did not know the actors

15:32

name here which I should be it reminds

15:36

me a little bit of there’s there’s that

15:41

sense of Noir cool in there but there’s

15:44

there’s so many walls to a performance

15:45

like that that you can kind of interpret

15:48

it in several different ways

15:49

I liked the performances in the film I

15:52

didn’t think they were the main driver

15:54

of of the final product or my response

16:00

to the film so much as again going back

16:04

to the less the visual the use of

16:06

visuals language yeah I mean I also

16:09

thought the poor performances work you

16:11

know quite fine actually the female

16:14

performances were we’re more engaging

16:17

than the male but I liked a lot of the

16:19

sidekick sort of guys like yeah because

16:21

they were just very natural and and

16:23

there was a lot of little hints of humor

16:26

like this the line dance really has no

16:28

value other than it’s something you know

16:33

that that’s happening I there was a lot

16:36

of good choices there was a lot of you

16:37

know there’s a lot of Sergio Leone kind

16:40

of stuff in there but that’s also

16:41

because say Sergio Leone that’s being

16:43

very North American centric of me that

16:45

these kind of films I also saw a lot of

16:47

Kurosawa kind of work in there in the

16:49

sense of the way it was edited at times

16:52

just very very specific in her mind for

16:55

some reason I even films like stray dogs

16:58

or something like that came up in my

16:59

mind just as so obviously somebody who

17:02

really does and I have not seen any of

17:04

its other films so I can’t really judge

17:06

it but obviously somebody who’s playing

17:09

a lot but I guess when it comes down to

17:10

it in the end is it

17:12

I’m probably a little tired of watching

17:14

male violent gang stories so I don’t

17:17

really need another oh yeah guys are bad

17:21

you know they steal things they kill

17:24

people and they abused women like you

17:26

know it doesn’t really so on that level

Umbrella Scene

17:30

although the umbrella scene was pretty

17:32

impressive the umbrella scene was great

17:34

as well yeah I forgot about that as it

17:35

was towards the end when I was probably

17:37

I just watched the film about an hour

17:39

ago so I was kind of taking notes and

17:42

that yeah that was beautiful and that

17:44

did feel that sort of those bits of

17:47

stylized violence or nice touches in a

17:51

film it’s also I think one of the things

17:54

that I’m thinking about right as we’re

17:56

talking is the one of the things that is

17:59

really nice about doing this program

18:02

that we’re doing we’re these screening

18:03

these films online with our with our

18:07

partners is that we’re it’s giving us

18:09

the a gh film series the opportunity to

18:12

spread out and do this this is a film I

18:14

don’t think you would ever see during

18:16

our regular film series potentially

18:17

during the film festival but I think

18:19

it’s nice to for us to be able to have

18:21

conversations about film like this to

18:23

showcase this to as part of the AGHS

18:26

program as well so oh I agree I think

18:29

this is really a nice addition it’s good

18:33

to have it’s almost like having

18:34

immediate you know whether or not we’re

18:37

offering anything those of that same

18:39

quality but it’s like having a DVD

18:41

extras you know it’s like heaven the

18:43

commentary whether you want it or not

18:45

here it is yeah someday we’ll do a

18:47

commentary track together yeah I think

18:50

I’m gonna quickly now will switch

18:51

because we’ve been talking for a little

18:52

bit about this film it is up available

18:55

until the end of the week if you have

18:57

not watched the film and we have

18:59

convinced you that you must see it you

19:02

should check out our Carroll gallery of

19:04

Hamilton comm age aged Film Fest calm

19:06

for the links and as of today our new

19:10

film for the week one of my favorite

19:12

films of 20 that I saw in 2019 it wasn’t

19:16

released until early 2020 it was a film

19:19

that I was trying and try I was trying

19:22

so hard to get this film to the age aged

19:23

Film Festival in the fall that I

19:25

offered to just pay out of my own pocket

19:28

to havin a DCP of the film made so we

19:30

could have one it didn’t timeout but I’m

19:33

really happy that we’re able to see it

19:34

now the films called baccarat the

19:39

directors Julianne Darnell’s and cly

19:43

Berman dosia Phil Oh made about seven or

19:48

eight years ago one of one of really the

19:51

most amazing debut features you could

19:54

you could possibly I think I’m not I’ll

19:57

throw hyperbole on here it’s one of the

19:59

best debut features I’ve seen in years

20:02

and years and decades a decade sure why

20:05

not

20:06

neighboring sounds is a fantastic film

20:08

the directors are from Brazil that film

20:11

is available on fan door I’ll give you

20:13

that now too because I think it’s

20:14

absolutely worth watching

20:15

but baccarat made its premiere I think

20:21

it made its world premiere at TIFF I

20:22

could be wrong it might have been at at

20:24

Venice and then TIFF but it’s it’s it’s

20:28

a again a totally different film for the

20:30

Art Gallery of Hamilton if you liked

20:32

parasite I feel like there’s a really

20:35

there’s a straight line between these

20:37

two films it is sort of like a Western

20:40

but it is like very few other films

20:43

you’ll see it starts you don’t care

20:45

which they don’t care it’s just a

20:48

fantastic bad guy and it did do a run in

20:52

New York back in January as part of a

20:55

double bill with parasite they were

20:56

doing q and A’s after both films with

21:01

the directors of both films so there’s

21:03

there is a bit of a kindred spirit with

21:06

parasite it’s a very different film from

21:07

that but I think yeah that it’s it’s

21:11

it’s in it’s in that same world so I’m

21:15

really excited to present this film and

21:18

I think we’re going to switch over to

21:21

the trailer of that did you have

21:23

anything else you wanted added before we

21:25

sign off Terry no I’m looking forward to

21:28

seeing this film I’ll watch it very

21:31

shortly all right and I’m gonna get you

21:35

out of the screen because last week we

21:36

were watching you watch the trailer

21:55

[Music]

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