Hugo De Sousa in Good Condition Good Condition is an eight-minute meditation on loneliness, know-how and new beginnings. It marks the second collaboration between filmmakers Frank Mosley and Hugo De Sousa after their 2022 comedy quick movie, The Event, during which a filmmaker wakes up his roommate in the course of the evening to ask why he hasn’t watched his quick movie. This time, they embark on an eerie journey to the suburbs, following a melancholy man named Barry (Hugo De Sousa) attempting to finish a transaction with a ghostly determine who retains evading him. Good Condition premiered at Aspen ShortFest and Fantasia earlier this 12 months, and can end its run this November on the Cucalorus Film Festival.
For the web launch of Good Condition, Mosley and De Sousa sat down with filmmaker Patrick Brice (Creep, The Overnight) to debate their two collaborations. Click here to observe Good Condition.
Brice: I like these films on a number of ranges. With The Event, you guys tapped into one thing common in the case of the group of filmmakers I do know, this concept of creating one thing and placing it out on this planet, and the worry and anxiousness that comes with [that]. Will somebody just like the factor that I made? Will somebody even have the time in 2023 to observe the factor I made? Let’s begin with the place that concept got here from and what your private expertise is.
De Sousa: We realize it’s unimaginable to persuade strangers to observe our stuff, but it surely’s equally unimaginable to persuade those that love us to observe our stuff. They need to watch it, however for some purpose, they don’t get to it. I simply felt that was humorous.
Brice: Was that one thing that ever harm your emotions?
De Sousa: I imply, yeah. I’m the youngest in my household, so it’s arduous to get individuals to concentrate to you—I nonetheless have that in me a bit of bit. I’ve been in each locations; I empathize with each characters, and that was actually vital to us. This couldn’t be simply me getting again at individuals for not watching my stuff. I do the identical factor too. So, I’m calling myself out.
Mosley: We need to present a complete triangle of views—not simply warring between these two sides, however then you have got Jen Kim, who is sort of like an viewers surrogate watching this unfold. You all the time have the particular person on the skin of those conditions who’s like, “Look, I don’t really want to be pulled into this.”
Brice: I discovered myself in that place many occasions. Once you make stuff that’s being seen on this planet, you have got individuals desirous to ship you’re employed. I imply, you guys actually did it to me. I’d be curious to return into my emails and see the time between once you despatched me the hyperlink and after I watched it. I wager you it was a minimum of a month. Sometimes it’s tougher to observe a brief movie than watch a characteristic. I don’t know why that’s. When I speak to movie college students and so they ask for recommendation about making stuff, I’m all the time like, “Just don’t make anything over 10 minutes.” No one has the eye span to observe something longer than that for some purpose. You may as properly be simply making a characteristic. Same with how a lot cash and effort and time goes into making a film, and that’s the opposite factor you guys did very well. You had been so economical and good and deliberate together with your selections. You totally understood your constraints going into it. Can you discuss how that was constructed from the script stage and contemplating what it might appear like as a manufacturing? How lengthy did it take to shoot, by the best way?
Mosley: One lengthy evening—12 pictures, 12 minutes. Everybody concerned knew what we had been going for, by way of, we’ve bought to get the whole lot this one evening.
From my perspective, this began as an incredible alternative to have a two-hander with Hugo as actors. There had been a variety of concepts floating round, however finally we settled on making one thing at Hugo’s home, which we knew we had management over, with a small solid and crew. If we all know we’re solely going to have 12 pictures, then we use that point to verify every shot is precisely what we wish quite than scrambling to shoot twice as a lot in in the future.
Brice: And you’re getting a brand new piece of knowledge with every shot. There’s no double beats in it, which is refreshing. Hugo, I’m going to say you’re the antagonist.
Mosley: I all the time adore it after I hear who says which character is the antagonist. You speak to a distinct particular person, and the reply is all the time totally different.
Brice: It’s enjoyable to observe Hugo needle Frank, but it surely’s additionally actually enjoyable to observe Frank get needled. And from an appearing standpoint, I may inform you guys pay attention to one another. Did you guys have expertise appearing collectively earlier than this?
De Sousa: People are very shocked after they hear this, however we met in particular person for the primary time in the course of the location scout in my home. We’d been speaking on the telephone or Zooms and determined to co-direct earlier than even assembly one another in particular person. It’s one thing that would have solely occurred in 2020. But individuals are shocked; they suppose we’re like outdated associates after they watch it.
Brice: By the best way, they’re each Valley films. I’m positive you guys are conscious of that too.
Mosley: That makes us so comfortable, as a result of we stored serious about early PT Anderson. Looking at these timber down the alley originally of Good Condition, this might be Punch-Drunk Love.
Brice: Yeah, early morning within the San Fernando Valley, there’s one thing very particular about that. It’s desert adjoining, so it will get cool at evening, however then it warms up actually shortly. So, you get mist within the air and that good, gentle golden gentle.
Going on to Good Condition, was it you guys taking that very same mannequin and saying, “How can we make something in a day?”
Mosley: We had a variety of enjoyable with The Event and it was like, what may we do as a observe up that might be one other collaboration, however in a approach that was very totally different than what individuals may count on coming off of The Event? Not simply by way of the story, however the tone and aesthetics—it’s not simply locked-off digital camera work for essentially the most half. But once more: utilizing our assets, how can we do all that at Hugo’s home once more in in the future with a very small crew?
De Sousa: Every quick is an train in simplicity, as a result of it’s arduous to justify spending some huge cash on a brief movie, so we’ve to be ingenious.
Brice: I’ve thought loads about this expertise of buying one thing on Craigslist, what can occur once you’re placing your self in that place and the chance that you just’re taking. Even when it’s a desk, you’re nonetheless saying, “This is worth putting myself in danger.” Have you guys had any Craigslist experiences that impressed this?
De Sousa: Not actually. I imply, I’ve essentially the most pretentious reply for the way I got here up with the idea. I used to be studying a Kiarostami e-book, and in it, he tells his college students to make a brief movie set in an elevator. Everyone makes a brief movie set in an elevator. I’m like, “OK, I don’t have access to an elevator, but what else in my house is cinematic? My garage is the only remotely cinematic thing.” And as quickly as I pictured my storage, I instantly noticed a espresso desk in the course of it. That was my place to begin.
Mosley: We had been speaking loads about paranoia within the piece and easy methods to actually convey that to the floor. Is he being watched by somebody? Perhaps his gaze on the desk is being mirrored by another person’s gaze. One of the issues we watched proper earlier than capturing was Samuel Beckett’s sole film, Film, with Buster Keaton. There’s this comedian power to it, but there’s a desperation for this one who’s working the entire time. It’s a chase film, and also you don’t know what he’s working from. Then you understand on the finish, “Wow, the thing he’s running from is us, is the gaze of the camera.” We wished to have that type of feeling. We’re all the time attempting to lock into Hugo with the digital camera as he’s going by way of these actions of attempting to do one thing so simple as getting a desk. Each time these zooms begin, it’s virtually just like the trance begins. By the final zoom shot, we’re as shut as we’re allowed, as a result of he lets us in on the porch throughout that monologue. You know, vulnerability.
Brice Back to the minimalism of all of it, like no music. Music would solely get in the best way. You guys are wanting us to concentrate on one or two issues, and that’s it. So, how will we make these one or two issues attention-grabbing and propulsive and enjoyable to observe? Were you guys totally conscious of this minimalism? Was that one thing that you just had been like, that is what we’re doing? Or was that one thing you stumbled into with The Event after which determined to take additional with Good Condition?
De Sousa: I feel we’ve the identical style in the case of that. We had been eager about how a lot we are able to do with nothing. We’ve been pushing that additional with each quick. The first one is a super-contained story—two individuals caught in an condominium—after which the second is an actor and a espresso desk.
When we had been sending out the quick for notes, it was arduous to navigate, as a result of everyone seems to be so totally different. Some individuals need solutions and a few are cool with not getting all of the solutions. It was actually robust to navigate that course of and never really feel like there was one thing improper with the quick. It was our intention to do one thing super-ambiguous. I actually like Cruising, and the anomaly in that movie is so stunning—that was the aim stepping into. But it’s robust once you see that some part of the viewers is like, “I don’t know what’s happening.”
Mosley: You have one thing very grounded and literal because the battle on the coronary heart of The Event, however with Good Condition, a lot is ephemeral. The themes are floating round one particular person, an unreliable narrator who has no bounce board apart from the viewers. Is it true what he’s saying? Is it exaggerated? Is it not the entire fact? Which we discovered actually thrilling. The first half is sort of utterly silent, then the final half is a giant monologue. And that was actually thrilling for us, to have that bifurcated construction.
We actually love financial system. Anytime I begin making a film, I try to say, “What am I not going to do with this movie?” I feel that’s an incredible place to start out, simply making guidelines and bounds for your self as a result of the toy field is limitless. But should you’re like, “What’s the right toy for this? These are the only two toys I’m going to use,” then it provides me confidence when making the movie.
Brice: That concept of displaying your work to individuals was one thing I feel I realized the arduous approach as being good medication in the case of the put up stage. It’s robust a variety of the time—not solely by way of the ego dying you need to expertise with taking criticism, but additionally figuring out you’re displaying this factor that isn’t completed and wanting assist. Also, removing emotional opinions versus sensible opinions, removing individuals’s style versus what you need—it’s actually an unclear zone that you just’re residing in once you’re exposing your self in that approach and opening your self up and saying, “Help me.” You’re in all probability going to listen to some stuff that you just didn’t need to hear, some stuff you didn’t take into consideration.
Also, you’re going to listen to an opinion a variety of the time that I feel goes again to a line in The Event the place you say, “I’m your friend, I’m not your audience,” which is the thesis assertion of that film for my part. Quite a lot of occasions the factor you’re making simply merely isn’t for that particular person. And that’s fantastic. I’m very fortunate, as a result of I had the expertise of doing that with my first film, which was a really totally different film than it ended up being, partly due to that have of displaying it to individuals and getting recommendation and listening to what was working and what wasn’t. I had the intense model of that. Now after I present a lower to individuals of flicks I’m making, I really feel like I’m a bit of additional down the road of what it might be, and have a greater concept of removing somebody’s knee-jerk emotional opinion versus, like, “Here’s what I can actually take from that feedback and apply to this movie to make it the movie that I want it to be.”
Mosley: The finest notes are when somebody provides you a notice and also you’re like, “I don’t really want to do that thing they suggested, but there’s this kernel of truth in that note that I can pull and it can make me look at the film in a different way.”
De Sousa: After getting a variety of notes, Frank and I had been a bit of misplaced within the sauce for some time. Everything got here collectively actually quick: We shot it a month later, we had a lower and we had been so giddy about it. Then we went by way of that course of and needed to remind ourselves, “Remember when we really loved this thing? We loved it.” So, we went again to that first lower, as a result of we remembered that feeling once we watched it and needed to belief that. We toyed with it—we modified the textual content messages that he receives. But we had been stretching the quick in each route attempting to please everybody, then we had been like, “Let’s just go back to the one that we really loved.” And it’s arduous to justify—simply, you recognize, the style factor.
Mosley: It’s additionally about intent. We made all these selections in pre-pro to make that first lower of the film that we liked. There’s one thing to be mentioned for what Hugo’s saying, that uncooked first lower and feeling of: “That was our script-to-screen translation, and we did it.” That’s why the enhancing was so swift as a result of, once more, we love financial system. The different notes that we bought—to your level, Patrick, there have been some individuals whose notice was, “Once you put in some music, that is going to be really great in this shot.” They had no concept that we had no plan of placing any music in there, as a result of we don’t need to inform them easy methods to really feel. It may be scary and humorous and unhappy unexpectedly with out a rating. But if you wish to make one selection of what sort of rating, then it turns into this one factor.
De Sousa: And it’s robust with hyperlinks, as a result of in a movie show, a minimum of you’re controlling the setting of how they’re watching your film. But one particular person was like, “Oh, I watched it during my lunchtime listening to music, and it was too slow.” I additionally suppose that’s in all probability a extra correct illustration of how individuals would really watch this factor out on this planet—sending it to them, figuring out that they’re going to be watching on some machine that’s bought a bunch of tabs open and this is only one of a thousand.
Brice: That’s simply the fact of residing now. My introduction to cinema was watching VHS tapes, not a movie show, as a result of I grew up in the course of the woods. There was a movie show, I did go see films there, however by way of falling in love with films, it was going to the video retailer, renting a film, taking it house: “That’s the movie that we’re watching tonight. We have to watch it tonight because it needs to be returned tomorrow.” Outside of that being an ideal setting to concentrate on one thing, it was a distinct approach of experiencing cinema than now, the place you may watch it on something. There is a small a part of me, as a filmmaker, that resents the choices that we’ve now. I resent it for myself. My best viewing expertise for a film is 10 a.m. with a cup of espresso in an empty movie show. That is after I know I’m going to have the ability to focus, to obtain, to be moved, to have the ability to study. I take pleasure in watching films at evening, but it surely’s positively extra of a one-sided expertise that approach then if I watch it within the morning, when I’ve time to consider it for the remainder of the day. But as a filmmaker, I don’t begrudge anyone that watches my film in any approach. As lengthy as you’re watching it, I don’t give a shit. It’s totally different when that particular person’s providing you with notes or suggestions. But how do you guys really feel about individuals watching your stuff? Do you care?
Mosley: I’m extra in your boat. I’m simply comfortable that it’s seen in any respect. Really, as soon as it’s executed, we’ve no management over something. We have solely as a lot management as we’ve making the rattling factor. After that, it’s like pushing it off the varsity: “There you go. Take some steps, see how you’re received.” You should let go a bit of bit.
De Sousa: But it’s tougher once you’re making one thing that’s speculated to be a bit of slower and meditative, and it’s not tremendous uneven and in your face. You get a bit of insecure once you’re like, “OK, you’re watching on your phone, with some noise around.” They’re not likely going to be totally immersed within the rigidity that we’re attempting to create.
Mosley: But once we are having a theater screening, then I need to be sure it’s the perfect model doable: do a sound test, be sure the DCP is correct, all that stuff. There had been some screenings of The Event that Hugo and I had been at—I feel one was the Santa Barbara Film Festival—and we simply smiled at one another afterward. Seeing it on the massive display screen, it appeared the perfect, it sounded the perfect that it ever had. It was the perfect model of the film ever. It was actually particular.
Brice: The truth that you just guys have had the possibility to see these in a theater with individuals, but additionally know you’re okay with it going out on this planet on the web, which is the place they’re going to stay now and hopefully have individuals come and discover them, looks like a finest case situation for me, particularly in the case of the place and the way quick movies can exist on this world.
