MOVIE MONDAYS: 52 TUESDAYS
Last week POUTfest started off with a bang. I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to see 52 Tuesdays and stay after the screening to attend the Q&A session with the film's director, Sophie Hyde who won the award for 'Best Director' in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2014. This film was such an eye-opener, I am not even sure where to start.
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Source: Closer Productions
When I first read the blurb for this movie I assumed it was a documentary but was surprised to find out it wasn't when I did a bit of research hours before seeing the film. And so when Sophie came into the theatre to introduce her first feature film and confirmed that 52 Tuesdays, which was released last year, was indeed a fictional story, the first question I was itching to ask her, regardless of how silly it may be, was 'Why Tuesday?' I am pleased to say I did get to ask her my question, to which most of the audience and Sophie chuckled at, and I loved the answer I got. But first, let me tell you about the film.
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Billie // Source: © Sundance Institute
52 Tuesdays is a self-discovery story about a teenage girl called Billie and how her relationship with her family and friends evolves over the course of a year once she finds out that her mother has decided to under go a gender transformation. This unique and experimental film is made up of clips of the characters lives from 52 consecutive Tuesdays which were all shot only on Tuesdays...for a year. Now do you see why I had to ask her that question? The concept of making a movie shot once a week was voiced by the film's screenwriter Matthew Cormack (My Last Ten Hours With You) and it was from that idea that the story of Billie and her mother, James, was formed. The story was written by both Matthew Cormack and Sophie Hyde (My Last Ten Hours With You; Elephantiasis; Life in Movement) and developed as the film was being made; they had about 6 weeks worth of scripts when they began filming and finished the script along the way. Shot chronologically, the cast was given the script for the following Tuesday's scenes only a week in advance and the scenes for that particular Tuesday in the storyline could only be shot on that day. These are only a few rules the creators created regarding how this film would be produced which, to me, sounds like it made 52 Tuesdays a more interesting and challenging film project to take on with the relatively small budget they had.
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Jasmine, Billie and Tom // Source: © Sundance Institute
The cast, made up of not-that-widely-known actors and actresses, gave such good performances I found it very easy to be immersed in the world of their characters. You find out quite quickly that Billie and James' relationship shifts in and out of focus as the story unfolds and notice that its not just James battling with her identity but almost every character we are introduced to. Billie, an adventurous and stubborn girl was portrayed by Tilda Cobham-Hervey (One Eyed Girl) whilst James, her kind mother was played by Del Herbert-Jane. Billie's carefree uncle (Harry) and her caring, easy-going dad (Tom) were played by Mario Späte and Beau Travis Williams. And there are, as always, other notable characters to mention but I shan't give too much away. With the way this story was told, the film felt and looked real; there was a slight documentary feel to it that made it more... personal - an element of the film that I really liked.
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52 Tuesdays is film about what happens when a mother tells her daughter her plans for gender transition. It highlights the dynamic nature of relationships, explores some issues with identity, sex & communication and challenges your perspective on these topics. If this piques your interest then try and catch it while the film's on tour (out in UK cinemas on 7th Aug) or whenever you get the chance to see it.
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Oh and before I forget to tell you, the reason why the film was shot on Tuesdays was because Matthew Cormack thought Tuesday to be a nothing day; a day that is not particularly "special" like the first day of the week or hump day or Friday.
Mo x
P.S. If you are in the Manchester area this month, there are still a few more films to be screened at HOME during POUTfest (4th Aug - 31st Aug 2015) that may be of interest to you.