Latest / Cinema Yūgen / "Love + Chaos and Vinyl: The Intrigue of Beth + Jeremy and Steve"

Transcript

"Love + Chaos and Vinyl: The Intrigue of Beth + Jeremy and Steve" · Cinema Yūgen

0:00
G'day. That's right. It's that time again. Time for Cinema Yugen.
0:16
G'day. Welcome back. Cinema Yugen. Beth plus Jeremy and Steve is out on May 30.
0:25
That's right. May 30 on VOD and DVD.
0:30
Beth plus Jeremy and Steve, written and directed by Daniel M. Hill.
0:35
Beth plus Jeremy and Steve is an offbeat, romantic, dark comedy that tracks
0:40
a volatile love triangle through the emotionally scorched sidewalks of Portland, Oregon.
0:47
It centers on a forbidden romance that develops into a unique love triangle
0:53
that unfolds between a lovelorn high school swimmer, a 30-something woman trapped
0:59
in a marriage and her jealous,
1:01
unpredictable husband.
1:03
Shot with a visual palette that leans retro mod, the film drapes its interpersonal
1:11
chaos in stylized light 1980s Portland.
1:15
Cool, atmospheric and surreal overtones Hill, who also edited the film,
1:20
brings a visual, distinctive and emotionally resonant story to the screen.
1:26
A secret affair driven by mutual love of musing nostalgia and quiet desperation of longing.
1:35
Beth plus Jeremy and Steve. Cinema Yugen is proud to welcome now writer,
1:42
director, editor Daniel Hill, Brianna Radiman as Beth. UDB RCO.
1:49
And Lucas Friedman as Jeremy.
1:53
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. to
1:56
cinema you getting thank you
1:59
happy to be here thank you jump
2:03
on call out take your hats off y'all come back now here great film ladies and
2:09
gentlemen i really enjoyed it i've uh as i read here deserving winner of uh
2:15
of awards the bremen film festival brianna very deserving best actress,
2:21
the Santa Fe Film Festival and also, yeah, I've got to give it off Best Screenplay,
2:27
award to it, the Blow Up Film Festival, well done all round everybody.
2:33
It's a great, great film. And now to be reviewed by myself for Film Threat.
2:37
I haven't written my review yet, so be nice.
2:40
Otherwise, no, just kidding.
2:44
Jokes, jokes. I'm not that way at all. I don't. That's not how this works.
2:49
But, no, marvellous film all around. You know, three of my favourite movies
2:54
that I thought about while watching this, I love Alexander Payne's Election.
2:58
I love the blacks the squid and
3:01
the whale and wes and epson's rushmore and
3:05
watching your film beth plus mary and steve i thought about all those movies
3:09
so well done it was a nice and all of those yeah those are solid ones for sure
3:15
cool yeah so so tell me about i guess daniel Where did this little gem come from?
3:25
What was the spawning of Beth plus Jeremy and Sting?
3:31
I think it was a combination of things.
3:36
It's definitely, there's for sure autobiography in there, autobiographical stuff
3:42
in there, stuff I was going through, and then stuff that I just wanted to explore with people.
3:50
Specifically people who are going through a crisis
3:54
in their lives at a certain age too
3:57
and how I think that can align even
4:00
though people are different ages they almost can
4:03
meet in a certain way with where they're at no matter yeah no matter the age
4:08
and that kind of you know the things that can lead that people can do when they're
4:16
under such extreme circumstances to show them and to show them still as human beings.
4:22
Even though there still might be consequences and everything else,
4:25
but to really still show them as human beings.
4:27
And I think that's kind of, those are my starting off points, for sure.
4:32
Brianna, do you think that Beth was just at a point in the relationship where
4:38
she knows that Steve is up to something, so she figures while the cat's away, the mice will play?
4:46
I don't think that's what I was thinking.
4:50
It's been like seven years, so I had to kind of think about it today.
4:54
Like, where was I in that time with the character?
4:57
But I think the way that, if I remember correctly, Dan and I were looking at
5:03
Beth is that she was not satisfied.
5:06
And I think that there was a part of it was that, you know, her husband is cheating
5:10
on her. Maybe she doesn't know it, but she knows something is going on.
5:13
But she's not satisfied maybe with some of her life choices and is curious,
5:16
like, where did she lose herself at what point?
5:20
And I think it brings her back to her teenage years where she felt most alive
5:25
and there was like a sense of wildness and just that feeling of like you could
5:30
go anywhere from that point.
5:32
And she chose these different ways to go become a realtor and kind of,
5:35
you know, do the successful route.
5:37
But something was missing. And so I think that she goes back to her younger
5:42
self, which is the record store, and then is awakened and then has this moment
5:49
of aliveness with this guy that she meets.
5:52
And then, and she feels good about herself or, you know, she remembers,
5:56
oh, that's me, you know, and then it gets a little tricky from there, obviously.
6:00
But kind of where I was going with it a little bit.
6:04
There's something interesting that comes up in that conversation between you,
6:08
Lucas, and Brianna about….
6:12
Brianna, Beth brings it up. Why do you think people are going back to LPs?
6:17
Because people want to touch something, like the ritual of actually physically
6:23
doing something instead of just clicking and tapping on the screen.
6:27
You physically have to put a record on the record player.
6:31
It seems like a very timely sort of thought, don't you think?
6:36
It does. Even more now, for sure. yeah
6:39
the the the fact that we we
6:42
used to do or have to do so much where
6:45
everything now is is it feels like it's the
6:47
click of a fingertip and you know it's it's a different time whereas as you
6:54
say like the the almost the ritual or the seduction of which the characters
6:59
go through falling in love at least you like you say first it's it's talking
7:03
about the records and then And she goes,
7:05
invites him over to play a record. And then, you know, one thing leads to another, right?
7:10
Mm-hmm. Lucas, what's it like being caught in such a love tornado? Hardly a triangle.
7:17
I mean, terrifying.
7:22
I like how you thought it was a game too. Like, what is this, War of the Roses?
7:27
Yeah, it's complete. I mean, I myself had a very tumultuous time romantically
7:34
in high school. I think that that's probably not uncommon.
7:41
And this is just, in some ways, taking away the stakes of all the things that
7:46
I was going through in high school.
7:48
The way that I felt at the time and making them real.
7:53
As a high school every relationship felt as intense and as crazy as the situations
7:59
in this film in some ways but,
8:04
having the challenge was was then dealing with that feeling of being real,
8:13
as a you know when I was a kid I had these crises and,
8:19
I can look back on them now and say oh that was so silly but in the context
8:24
of this film and this story it is every bit as intense as it seems so funnily
8:29
all this is to say that it didn't feel,
8:33
Playing Jeremy didn't feel foreign or that heightened to me.
8:41
More something remembered as well.
8:45
Yeah, I'd say so. Feelings and emotions, like a sense memory of,
8:50
well, I've been in this sort of situation before.
8:52
Maybe not the exact same circumstances, but as we've all been led by infatuation before, I'm sure.
9:03
It's it's a common trope exactly yeah there was a lot of discussion that we.
9:10
Matt i really like you i like steve he's a very straight up stand up awesome great,
9:18
i'm not sure if i do uh i got a question what is the number seven when he's
9:26
on the bench he says your friends are number seven what is that oh i think this
9:30
this is like a police code right,
9:32
like it's not it's not a 1 8 it's not a 1 8 7 it's
9:35
not a 3 11 right it's a number seven it's
9:38
not as severe i guess it's it's probably a little bit tamer because
9:41
it's a it's a lower number it's definitely yeah it's
9:44
not as high as that but it's something yeah it's great
9:47
your your steve reminds me of like jeremy piven from
9:50
that very bad things or you know
9:53
i listen i listen to a lot of sports radio to prepare for for steve you know
9:57
i love the bit where you turn up with the house and you're finally confronted
10:02
with his mother and you're about to like say you know like your son saved my
10:07
wife's life it was absolutely fantastic she was that seemed,
10:14
pushed her out of the way god love him he's a real hero.
10:21
Yeah i mean there's this like freewheeling aspect to the guy like even though
10:24
he's got you know the the standard job the typical job he's figured out a life
10:29
for himself where he's able to you know be the alpha that he wants to be here
10:33
so he thinks and but now he's in deep.
10:36
Now he's in deep yeah now he's in deep but there's like an extemporaneous element
10:42
to the to him that was a lot of fun to play with you know he's he's he's confident
10:46
in that way so yeah it's interesting a question for all how the the,
10:52
The dynamics of this relationship becomes two, then three.
10:57
And then it becomes, you know, your relationship, Lucas's relationship with
11:03
Matt and then Brianna's continued relationship.
11:08
There was one weird bit though, I got to say, that was really sort of,
11:12
I'm not saying it's like the breast cancer moment in the room,
11:15
but it's... Tell me how you really feel.
11:20
The bit where Lucas... as Jeremy goes to talk to his buddy and he's sitting
11:25
in the bath and he's got that little candle burning in front of him. Yeah. Yeah.
11:29
Yeah. That was, that was, I thought that was, it was going to go a different
11:33
direction at that moment. I thought it was going to have like a tunneled Mr.
11:36
Ripley moment there for a minute where he taps the bath water and says,
11:39
Hey, do you want to come in?
11:41
Uh, yeah, it was, that was a weird bit. I mean, did that, has that ever happened to you, Daniel?
11:46
Like you talk to your mate while he's like having a bath and burning a little.
11:50
Yeah. It was like, I will tell you.
11:52
Yeah. okay cool right hey i'm not saying there's anything weird about it so
11:56
it just seems strange i think dan was a swimmer so he's very comfortable with
12:01
uh you know just being water water okay.
12:05
There's that too i to me it's a very that's actually
12:08
and these guys might have seen an earlier cut that's a
12:10
it's a longer scene and i know he just knows how long it is and it just i love
12:16
that i really do like that scene because it is kind of yeah i get it it's it's
12:21
a striking in itself but there's also something to me really to me endearing
12:27
funny and also just hilarious that,
12:31
this kid his friend is the one trying
12:34
to tell him how it is and it's in this
12:37
situation where he's in a bath with a candle and he's this really maybe
12:39
really sensitive kid but he's still telling him how
12:42
it is and i just the the kind of contrast
12:45
in that scene i i just i like
12:48
you know and it but yeah i don't know that's okay
12:52
i just i did yeah and of all the the the the flow of the narrative is pretty
12:57
you know but that moment was just sort of the weird the bit that stuck out it's
13:02
just yeah i think because it cuts directly to it you don't find out how he ended
13:06
up in the bathroom sitting there while his mates taking a bath right you know.
13:12
Is the candle was that like aromatherapy or something yeah
13:15
it was like his way of relaxing okay cool
13:19
yeah yeah just just because
13:22
i don't do it doesn't mean it's not cool yeah yeah there's there's i
13:26
i like also the idea of just when you're
13:29
younger and especially you know kids are a lot more intelligent
13:32
and doing interesting things that sometimes we give credit for or
13:35
trying things it doesn't even have to be in
13:38
an overtly you know sexual way or anything like they're just
13:40
trying different things sure you know and they're
13:43
smarter than their years and they act like they're smarter than their years or
13:47
trying to you know and it comes off a certain way
13:50
and i i you know i yeah so i
13:53
think there's some of that for me in that as well and and
13:57
so how what this film is is getting is getting
14:01
perilously close so that everyone can enjoy the
14:04
30th of this month we're coming
14:07
out on on what dvd blu-ray streaming
14:11
uh so yeah streaming and
14:15
i got all the sites here if it's i mean if you google it you can you can
14:18
uh find it we'll put all the links in the description but um yeah yeah it's
14:22
i mean it's gonna be on apple it's gonna be on amazon it's gonna be on hoopla
14:25
and there's a bunch of others as of may 30th and then the dvd is available i
14:29
think june 3rd i think it's just a standard i don't know if it's a blu-ray i gotta find out but yeah.
14:36
And and how have you felt how did you
14:38
add the the journey for to to uh find
14:41
distribution for a film like this in this particular
14:45
climate was it hard easy it was
14:48
hard uh but also you know there's also you know so covet happened right so that
14:53
kind of kicked its ass a little bit as far as even in production and these guys
14:58
know that because i've been i was talking to them through the years about it
15:01
right and but i think there are a couple interesting things that happened and,
15:07
And for me, as some, you know, learning like whatever the marketplace is,
15:12
is that's challenging because I'm not, you know, that's not on my mind when
15:15
I'm doing this. No, sure.
15:18
So but then it has to be when it's done. And the interesting thing that happened,
15:22
I think, is that we all of a sudden got in, got a lot of festivals at the same
15:28
time. We got really some nice festivals.
15:30
We got Bremen where they liked it so much. They flew us out and made it the
15:35
opening movie, which was great.
15:37
And at this around the same time i we
15:40
got a that guy glenn reynolds who's a agent and
15:43
i got him i was just pretty much doing all the glengarry leads
15:47
man and i got badly you know i was just like whatever even if people are saying
15:50
no if i got someone biting a little bit i'd just email and be like hey do you
15:56
like it what can you tell me who do you know that i maybe can show you know
15:59
it's kind of that kind of thing and that's how we got this agent who then got
16:02
us freestyle for distribution.
16:05
So it was definitely a long journey. And I think one of the things that at least
16:09
the person at Freestyle was saying that we started to feel, I think that movie that came out,
16:15
I think last year with that Todd, he's actually from Portland.
16:20
If you guys know his name, chime in. Todd Haynes, May December.
16:24
Yes, May December. Thank you, Matt. When that came out, that kind of did something,
16:29
I think, with this term age gap.
16:32
And so I think that started to make people, you know, that's what we were told
16:37
anyway, which is interesting.
16:39
Yeah, I mean, because, I mean, look, in an age where it's all about action,
16:44
and of course the trend is lately the Bach films.
16:47
Jeez, even I've written one that's been made. You've got, you know,
16:51
you've got a working man, you've got the beekeeper, there's a new one,
16:55
Jean-Claude Van Damme is the gardener, you know. He's a gardener with a past.
17:02
And everything's hunky-dory in his garden until a bunch of ne'er-do-wells come
17:07
around with guns and it forces him to put down his gardening shears and pick up his old way of life.
17:14
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A film like, you know, a dark comedy.
17:22
Like Beth plus Jeremy and Stig comes along and, you know, it's a complete change of tune.
17:31
And unfortunately, the larger, the mass audience at large has been spoon-fed
17:38
for so long that something like this comes along.
17:41
And of course, if you appreciate cinema a little bit more than on surface level,
17:46
this film has so much to offer.
17:49
How do you all feel about the current trend of IP cinema as opposed to independent cinema?
17:57
I generally am clueless when it comes to trends. So just go,
18:02
whatever works, whatever's playing, it's good. If it starts soon and looks good.
18:08
I'll let you guys, I'll let the other two, you guys, Rihanna and Lucas, you talk first.
18:12
Cause I, I, yeah, I could talk all day about that, but how I feel about it,
18:15
but. Oh, you should go for it.
18:19
Yeah. I mean, it's even the term.
18:24
Just it's such a funny, you know, IP cinema, because honestly,
18:29
it took me a second to learn what it was, too.
18:32
And it's just a funny term. It's almost like and I get it's just this is the world we live in.
18:37
They're calling everything content, which is a funny thing, too, to me.
18:41
That's what they used to call shit on a website. And they call movies that now.
18:44
But it's just, you know, it's the reality.
18:47
So, yeah, I piece. I don't want to like I do.
18:51
Oh, what's that? Sorry. I don't even know what IP cinema means. intellectual
18:54
property okay i was like i don't
18:57
know so i think and and can correct me
19:00
i'm sure you like it's like all the comic book movies oh
19:03
yeah but i mean anything
19:06
that is franchisable anything that franchisable yeah
19:10
fit very easily into a i mean
19:12
franchises is is the big word everyone wants
19:16
to create something that potentially has legs
19:19
and longevity and you can just keep you can
19:21
yeah you can make cookie cutter films
19:25
where it's the same cookie but oh the
19:28
frosting's slightly different but yeah and
19:31
i love movies so i love those movies
19:34
too i just like good movies that are
19:37
good and there's a lot of those that are crap but there's
19:40
ones that are good too and so i don't want to shit on those either but but.
19:44
I mean it's it's the difference your film and say a
19:47
marvel film is the difference between a big mac and
19:50
a home-cooked meal right you know
19:54
yeah and and honestly my own
19:57
opinion is that for that home-cooked meal
20:00
it can cut it goes deeper but you
20:03
also there's going to be people who do not like
20:06
that meal and and the scale might go
20:09
either really really deep in both directions where they maybe hate it even because
20:14
we've gotten that too sometimes because with a big mac they know what they're
20:17
getting you know two right fatty special sauce let's use pickles onions just
20:21
like you know if you're going to the next marvel movie or the next star wars movie or the next.
20:27
Whatever i mean for god's sake there's going to be another masters of the universe
20:32
movie which is yeah i don't think we can top the other one i was there when
20:36
the first one came out in cinema it's really dating i loved it with dolph lundgren
20:40
i thought he loved that movie yeah why not,
20:42
that movie i think there's actually there's something interesting here we could
20:46
there's a connection back to something that you mentioned earlier kent about
20:50
the about the desire to recapture physical media like a thread in the film itself
20:58
I think that what we see now is.
21:03
The ongoing contentification of art, everything made in terms of things to be
21:10
packaged and sold and in vast quantities, right?
21:13
And as someone who just grew up in this internet world,
21:18
the way I was able to connect with the film was I I was brought back to this
21:26
idea of physical media, of records, of notebooks of all of that.
21:31
I really connected with the character on all these things, even though that
21:34
was already out of style by the time I was a teen because I think people need that.
21:43
I think we all need a connection to something that is real and physical and
21:47
feels personal and is slow.
21:51
Everything As Brianna said it eloquently before, it's the search to recapture
21:58
something that we felt before and something we've lost.
22:01
And nostalgia is the ultimate MSG flavoring for that. You know,
22:06
member berries. Member?
22:09
It's an interesting thing that it brings us back sometimes to the ritual of
22:14
doing things in that fashion.
22:15
But nostalgia itself can also be good and bad because you can be trapped in that as well.
22:20
But also in leaning directly into the film because Beth and Jeremy connect via
22:29
the records and also via music,
22:31
I'm pretty sure we all have songs that we love that takes us back to either
22:37
the first time we heard that song or that was the song I danced to with my husband
22:43
or my first girlfriend or the first kiss in the rain or blah,
22:48
blah, blah, blah, blah, so on and so forth.
22:49
Add your whatever here that there
22:53
is a nostalgia i mean they're gonna
22:55
with the new masters of universe movie they
22:58
know that there's a whole generation out there right now
23:01
that have no idea what master of the universe is and for
23:05
this this is going to be their way in and and for the rest of the money they're
23:10
going to hook old chalks like me in because i'm the one that used to watch it
23:16
as a little kid on TV and totally buy the toys because the cartoons told me to.
23:23
So uh it's it's a
23:26
double-edged sword i mean on the other hand can i just ignore
23:29
it sure and not go but the little kid is me saying are
23:32
you really gonna avoid masters of the universe come
23:35
on what's wrong with it it's
23:39
it's sort of like i think that's the tipping point because
23:42
brianna can can attest to
23:45
this that her character initially announces that
23:49
she's not interested in an affair but after
23:54
she has the after you have the little the record listening party that that tips
23:59
so do you think brianna that that's the point where your character she gives
24:03
into the nostalgia and like i'm just gonna go with this yeah i think that there's
24:11
something like about time.
24:14
Where i think the older i get the less i believe in the linearity of time so
24:20
i feel like she She kind of taps back into this self that exists inside of her at a different time,
24:30
but then with all of her life experience and who she is now.
24:33
But like it's like she she reawakens a part of herself, you know,
24:37
so I think maybe it's a giving in to nostalgia or it's living in the moment of that of that moment.
24:46
I think it's like it like all of the
24:49
the scene has been set the music is there she's
24:52
moved the you know like the record onto the like
24:55
this human being is connecting with her
24:58
over this music and like and all of this energy is in the room and she's in
25:04
that moment and things happen and I think that's where it was for me yeah yeah
25:12
I think the connection is the biggest piece for me with that But like I said,
25:17
when you asked me in the beginning of,
25:18
I think all three of them in a way are starved for it, for connection.
25:25
And I think in ways they provide it. Hence the reason why Steve can't let it go.
25:30
Hey, that's what happens. I think so. I was going to say, I think there's a
25:33
strong connection with him and Jeremy as well. That is formed.
25:37
That isn't, it's complex, you know?
25:40
And he also gets a, Jeremy's kind of a shield in a way, a way to get to know
25:44
Beth where, you know, He can, you can hide behind in a sense.
25:49
Right. Yeah. He gets to go undercover through this high school.
25:54
Interesting question. What do you think your characters did after the end of
25:57
the movie? Like, you know, the movie ends the way it does. I'm not going to spoil it.
26:01
What do you think your characters each did after we see them?
26:07
The end of the film.
26:09
It's a great question. It's a great question. I think we at least went to one museum.
26:15
One museum? Beth and Steve.
26:22
After he didn't get number seven by all mates. He didn't get number seven. That's right, yeah.
26:28
Went home, he checked his police code. I like that. I've been curious about
26:31
that since I watched it. Like, you know, what are your friends going to do, number seven me?
26:36
You're gonna gang up and and beat up the
26:39
old guy in the room yeah do
26:42
you know what that is do you know what a number seven is you know
26:45
i it is we say it was we said it was something we said it was something i just
26:51
i loved the sound of it that it was something that steve it was a move he was
26:56
yeah that's that that's what i love yeah or maybe he was like misquoting an iced tea album you know
27:02
used to listen to you it's a move but the most more importantly it was a move
27:07
for steve to like okay yeah i know i know i see the score and just like yeah
27:11
yeah i've got to say steve is the most,
27:15
interesting character of the three because that whole that whole like that whole
27:20
shift like i said when he shifts at the uh at the front door with the mother and then he's like yeah i,
27:27
i got a lot of i got a lot of time for like student athletes and eat carbs it's
27:32
good right Yeah, no one's all the stuff.
27:34
I mean, he's a guy who probably believes his own press, you know?
27:37
Yeah, I mean, he's truly a dichotomy. Yeah.
27:41
Yeah, and he's maybe less pure than the other two, and that's always fun to dive into.
27:46
Yeah, because he's not exactly a villain, and he's not exactly an antagonist.
27:52
He's kind of the uncomfortable third wheel.
27:55
Yeah, and I think that's important for all of them, though. I don't think any
27:58
of them are villains, really.
28:00
I mean, that's the whole thing of, like, you know, and I
28:03
know I've talked to all three that I know me and Brianna
28:06
talked about this a lot too of like the judge I you know
28:08
they're these are human beings doing things no one's
28:12
evil no one's an angel um but
28:16
yeah well look it's it's in in
28:19
this age of uh of cookie cutter movies
28:22
I sincerely appreciate watching Beth
28:25
plus Jeremy and Steve like I
28:28
said it reminded me of the early work of alexander payne
28:31
and wes anderson and
28:35
noah bomback great great stuff
28:38
well done to all of you great performances all
28:41
around i hope that our listening audience will
28:44
get out this may 30
28:47
30 30 check out the
28:50
links in the description i got
28:53
a question i'm just curious does does your audience in
28:57
australia like can they is apple and amazon
29:00
available through them like it is for yeah sure yeah we'll
29:02
put the we'll put the relevant we'll put all the relevant links
29:05
in the description so yeah please uh
29:08
get out down get out get down get out get down get up get in and check links
29:16
in the description for beth plus jeremy and steve it's a dark comedy full of
29:24
delicious treats for full of.
29:27
Great performances, particularly from my guests.
29:30
And, of course, the man behind the magic, the writer, director, editor.
29:35
He's too talented. Stop it. Daniel Hill.
29:40
Yes. Beth plus Jeremy and Steve Freestyle Digital Media is releasing this film.
29:47
One acclaim as the opening film.
29:49
Germany's Bremen Film Festival. Best Actress at the Santa Fe Film Festival.
29:53
And Best Screenplay at Chicago's Blow Up Film Festival. releasing
29:58
May 30 VOD DVD Freestyle
30:02
Media Check out all the links in the
30:05
description the romantic dark romantic comedy Beth
30:08
Plus Jeremy and Steve out this May 30 on VOD and DVD Check the links in the
30:15
description And as always my little Eugenites thank you for listening to us
30:22
on Spotify or wherever you choose to listen to your favourite podcasts I'm Kent Hill,
30:26
and until next time, you've been listening to Cinema!
30:33
Music.