I'm thrilled to be near completion on a new short film. The title is A WELL-PROVED HELPMATE. It is about a folk preacher named Pontain Mitchell, who has an amazing ability for spontaneous religious language. But only when he disappears behind a curtain. He even has a different name behind the curtain, "Jabez." In the movie he discusses his divided self. There are now images available at the website, TropicPictures.com.
I am also in pre-production for a short film to begin principle photography in September. The title is THE MOCK DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD. It concerns a toy maker named Tommy Roach, who, like Pontain Mitchell, is cosmically inclined. But there are pronounced differences. Pontain uses poetic language as a way to invest landscape and animals with spiritual authority. Tommy, on the other hand, is fascinated by monsters.
The toys Tommy makes are strange and horrendous-looking. He is drawn in by mutation and decay. His heart flings wide open for his toys. It is his view that a spirit of hospitality toward derangement is the way that affords one the ability to look at the world with a sense of grace.
But things needn't be so serious. Both films feature comedy and delightful images. And neither pushes for a religious point of view, not even the one about the folk preacher. I was thinking about poetic language and artistic invention. Difficult to go very far in an investigation of these two modes without "otherworldly" comparisons.
