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At Home With… September Picks
Friends of Metrograph Sofia Bohdanowicz, Jasper Jubenvill, and Michael M. Bilandic each share a film they love, streaming on demand on the Metrograph At Home platform.
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SOFIA BOHDANOWICZ Selects
My Winnipeg
My Winnipeg, dir. Guy Maddin, 2007
The first time I saw My Winnipeg, I was 22, and it rearranged me. Maddin’s iconic, melancholic voice—paired with frenetic camerawork, electricity, perversion, and radical re-stagings—introduced me to autofiction in cinema. I was so enamoured I saw it again during its theatrical run in Toronto at the Varsity on Bloor. In his intro, Guy quipped that he had come to massage us into the film but with only five people in the audience, he might just do it personally. Years later, he’d come into the vegan restaurant where I worked. When he ordered his usual, I’d ask him silly questions—like, “So you really want this extra tempeh this time?”—just to hear a little more of that voice. This film is stitched into my cinematic spine. I wouldn’t be standing without it.
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a filmmaker from Toronto whose work has screened at Berlinale, Locarno, New York Film Festival, Viennale, and TIFF. Her latest feature, Measures for a Funeral, premiered at TIFF and received the Grand Prix at Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. Her films have also been featured on the Criterion Channel.
JASPER JUBENVILL SELECTS
The Last Seduction
The Last Seduction, dir. John Dahl, 1994
She’s “hot and cold”… he’s “hung like a horse.” Sensual sociopathy and comedy groove to a smooth jazz soundtrack in Dahl’s neo-noir gem. Linda Fiorentino nails the role of a classic femme fatale, effortlessly swindling the hilariously clueless men whom she traps in her web. Recurring gags involving exposed male anatomy pop up throughout—some even ending in flirtatious fatalities. It’s slick, sexy, and darkly funny, hitting all the right genre notes.
Jasper Jubenvill is a cartoonist based in British Columbia, known for his indie comics like Dynamite Diva.
MICHAEL M. BILANDIC SELECTS
Buffalo Juggalos
Buffalo Juggalos, dir. Scott Cummings, 2014
We’re in a decrepit basement, not unlike one from Hostel. This isn’t Slovakia, though. It’s an even more ruthless and exotic ghetto zone. Welcome to Buffalo, New York. An aggro looking kid in face paint slowly creeps into the light. He’s swagged out in a militaristic black beret, JNCO-esque raver pants and an Insane Clown Posse shirt reppin’ “The Old Shit Tour.” In each hand he clutches a leash with a fluffy, long-necked, alpaca at the end. Who is he and what’s he doing with these peculiar beasts? No idea, but he’s a Buffalo Juggalo and Buffalo Juggalos do wicked shit. While this short, dialogue-free, experimental doc is mostly tableau-style portraits of regional ICP fans, it’s also a sacred relic from the YouTube 1.0 era, when directors could “discover” freaky subcultures on Facebook, drive a few hours to collab with ‘em, namedrop Paul McCarthy as an artistic influence, wrangle a phat post grant and stack laurel wreaths like Joker Cards.
Michael M. Bilandic is a New York-based filmmaker. He is the writer and director of Happy Life, Hellaware, Jobe’z World, and Project Space 13.
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