Home Grown Moviemaking
Thanks to a tip from my dad, who actually reads the newspaper, I finally got off my ass and went to something arts-related in South Florida. Amber Benson, best known for playing Willow’s girlfriend Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, was promoting the release of a movie called Chance that she had written/directed/starred in along with several other Buffyverse alums. I’d heard good things about the movie and Amber herself was doing a Q&A after the she showing, so I trekked over to downtown Ft. Lauderdale despite my fear of driving at night and walking alone through cities that aren’t Boston at night.
The movie itself was very interesting. It was apparently shot on DV over the course of five weekends, so it had a very homemade feel to it, yet the cast was comprised of mainly very talented professionals. The structure was interesting (though time progression was occasionally hard to follow, and the writing was quirky and funny (though it was best when it wasn’t trying to be.) There were some really interesting directorial choices and several spots where everything just snapped right into place perfectly for a moment. It was overall a very crafted piece and I enjoyed it, though at the same time my first thought afterwards was to wonder what Amber would create in the future with more time and money and experience. Amber herself indicated that this was a project she hadn’t necessarily expected to ever be seen by the public, and while it is good, it does feel like that.
Amber herself was very nice, answering questions and talking with people well past midnight, despite it being the second showing of the night and her apparently having spent the day at a local convention. I got to speak with her a bit and she was very friendly, even willing to have me send her my screenplay AND stage play for her to read, which I thought was beyond generous. She’s also very tiny in person. I like talking to people around my size because don’t feel like I’m five years old, for once.
In a related note, a local film writer wrote a brief but scathing review of Chance on the basis that the actors are portraying characters that are very different, sometimes even the opposite of the characters they played on Buffy. Either I just arrived from a strange parallel universe where actors are generally praised for being versatile, or Phoebe Flowers is an idiot. Though I’m sure there are people out there who are horrified to learn that James Marsters doesn’t always talk with a British accent.