I am mortified with this, but feel it is important to show the progress I have made. If you find this boring please watch this re-edit
The statement I wrote at the time:
Animals With Human Faces concerns the five characters: Harvey; Bridey and Nancy; Dermot; and Thomas. Each animal is native to Ireland, and have face significantly Irish issues.
The creation of sculptures came before filming so as to have concrete characters with which to insert into a narrative. Suppression and stagnation stemming from Ireland’s colonial history is present in the vignette of each character, along with sexual repression derived from catholic guilt.
I wanted to imbue the film with a coat of filth, using taboo issues. This can be seen in Harvey’s pissing on his mother; Bridey’s violent sexual fantasises; and Matthew’s ultimate cannibalisation. My greatest influence as a filmmaker is John Waters, his style and dialogue (particularly his films made with Divine) are so unholy that I have always found solace and inspiration in them. The dialogue and scenarios are heavily influenced by the Marquis de Sade, of whom I am also a great admirer. In writing Bridey and Nancy’s scene, I looked to the manner in which the Marquis wrote about sexual terrors in Justine (1791).
The statement I wrote at the time:
Animals With Human Faces concerns the five characters: Harvey; Bridey and Nancy; Dermot; and Thomas. Each animal is native to Ireland, and have face significantly Irish issues.
The creation of sculptures came before filming so as to have concrete characters with which to insert into a narrative. Suppression and stagnation stemming from Ireland’s colonial history is present in the vignette of each character, along with sexual repression derived from catholic guilt.
I wanted to imbue the film with a coat of filth, using taboo issues. This can be seen in Harvey’s pissing on his mother; Bridey’s violent sexual fantasises; and Matthew’s ultimate cannibalisation. My greatest influence as a filmmaker is John Waters, his style and dialogue (particularly his films made with Divine) are so unholy that I have always found solace and inspiration in them. The dialogue and scenarios are heavily influenced by the Marquis de Sade, of whom I am also a great admirer. In writing Bridey and Nancy’s scene, I looked to the manner in which the Marquis wrote about sexual terrors in Justine (1791).
I am hesitant to reveal too much so as to let the viewer watch the film with their
own opinions in mind, and take away from it what they like: but to deconstruct
each vignette with regards to the state of modern Ireland, I have tried to
represent the culture I see before me.
Harvey is a grown Dubliner, living at home, and infantilised by the housing crisis. Bridey and Nancy represent the conflict between the will of the body in opposition to the will of the mind. Dermot is a child set into the cycle of casual cultural alcoholism. Thomas is religious young man wielding the rage of an old testament god, cannibalising his friend after an unanswerable argument in a homoerotic feat.
Inspired dually by David Cronenberg’s mugwump puppets in Naked Lunch (1991) and Roland Topor’s puppeteering work in Marquis (1989), I made each animal from crude sketches and imagined their faces as I was making them. The title song and theme throughout the film was made by myself on GarageBand. Heavily inspired by the band Deux Filles, and Air’s 2012 album, Le Voyage Dans la Lune: I used synth chords to create an eerie space, and filled it with the baroque organ that rings to myself as a Catholic admonition.
Harvey is a grown Dubliner, living at home, and infantilised by the housing crisis. Bridey and Nancy represent the conflict between the will of the body in opposition to the will of the mind. Dermot is a child set into the cycle of casual cultural alcoholism. Thomas is religious young man wielding the rage of an old testament god, cannibalising his friend after an unanswerable argument in a homoerotic feat.
Inspired dually by David Cronenberg’s mugwump puppets in Naked Lunch (1991) and Roland Topor’s puppeteering work in Marquis (1989), I made each animal from crude sketches and imagined their faces as I was making them. The title song and theme throughout the film was made by myself on GarageBand. Heavily inspired by the band Deux Filles, and Air’s 2012 album, Le Voyage Dans la Lune: I used synth chords to create an eerie space, and filled it with the baroque organ that rings to myself as a Catholic admonition.