I had absolutely no idea what I was walking into when I went to see director Amanda Kramer's “By Design”, but I was intrigued by it when it was mentioned at the MIFF programme launch where the film was described as the ultimate body-swap film between a woman and a chair. Hearing something so out-there, I thought the film could be absolutely painful to sit through or some kind of crazy genius. Which, I wasn't sure, but I was intrigued enough to want to find out. “By Design” starts with a very clever opening credits sequence which involves the credits sorted like they were part of an upmarket chair catalogue, with all the specifications of the chair by the side of the picture of said chair really being the credits for the film. One audience member in my session clapped his approval of these clever credits, which immediately signalled that “By Design” was at least going to have a smartness to it, even if it was as weird as all heck. The weird part started directly after the credits, as we are meet our main character Camille, and her two best friends, Lisa and Irene, who are all having lunch together. The characters are introduced by Melanie Griffith's entertaining voice-over who explains that within her friend group, Camille is the odd one out; she doesn't have as much money, nor seem as interesting as the other two. After lunch, the three head out for some shopping and end up at a fancy furniture store, where Camille is entranced by a chair she deems to be the most beautiful thing in the world (I found it hilarious how bland and dull the chair actually looked). She wants it and needs it, but the price is out of her league, however she is determined to get the money and buy the chair, but the following day when she arrives at the store, she is heartbroken to see a sold sticker on it. She wishes and wishes and wishes to be loved like the chair, when magically her soul is implanted into the chair, as her body collapses lifeless (although still breathing). Her wish comes true as suddenly, as a chair, everyone loves her, far more than they ever did when she was human. Even stranger still, her friends don't even realise that Camille's soul is no longer in her body, as they regularly come over to her house and converse with the now still body who never says a word.
As you may be able to tell from the above, yes, “By Design” is quite an odd film, but Amanda Kramer's handling of the film is even odder, as it is quite an experimental film, that almost feels like a theatre piece due to the sparse sets and limited set-dressing within each scene. Because of the limited nature of the sets, the film is almost always shot front on, which makes it further feel like a play as you feel like an audience member watching. Kramer also gets her characters to deliver their lines in an unrealistic, deadpan way, that in the world of the movie is actually quite funny and works really well. Did I also mention that from time to time, the characters break out into interpretative dance sequences too? I didn't? Well, that happens too. As I was sitting there watching “By Design”, I had to work out whether I thought what I was watching was absolute shit, or something that was actually pretty funny and out there. I ended up going with the later, and surrendered to the absurdity of the whole movie, and found myself laughing a lot at just how ridiculous it all was, and at Kramer's audacity to try such a thing and to pull it off. Now, something this strange is never going to be for everyone, and my session of the film did have a number of walk outs, but I think that most of us that stuck around, ended up having a really good time with this absurdist comedy.
Kramer has been blessed with her cast, which is filled with actresses from the 90's that were so good back then. The person I was so happy to see the most was Samantha Mathis, who plays Lisa, as I was a huge fan of hers back in the day, and it has been ages since I have seen her in anything, and she is so good in this! Robin Tunney plays Irene, Camille's rich friend, and is also hilarious in the role. The biggest coup though is getting Juliette Lewis to play Camille, because for the majority of the film she just lies there saying nothing because her soul is in a chair. Lewis is such a great sport and up for anything, especially in a montage scene which sees her in weird body positions as the chair while Olivier is, um, getting intimate with it. I can also imagine Lewis pissing herself laughing either mid-take or directly after a take when she is just lying there motionless as these other actresses sit around her talking, and saying the most ridiculous things to her. The scene right at the end of “By Design” is also hilarious with Juliette Lewis excelling at showing the patheticness of her character. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, but Udo Kier makes a very funny cameo in “By Design” as the chair's designer, who is horrified when he sees his creation and knows something is different with it, accusing Olivier of modifying this furniture collector's item.
There is one scene in “By Design” though that I found very distasteful and where Kramer made a bad decision by including it in the film and that is when a weird voyeur, who has noticed Camille's lifeless body in her house, decides to kidnap and rape the poor girl. The whole scene is played for laughs, but having a girl who cannot defend herself being sexually preyed upon isn't the greatest source for laughs, and doesn't fit with the rest of the film tonally. Even the climax of this sequence, after our would-be rapist does a tap dance (don't forget the dance scenes in the film), just felt off, and I thought that if that scene had been eliminated, the film wouldn't have suffered for it, rather it would've done it good, as that scene just feels like padding. Don't get me wrong, there are moments of dark or black comedy throughout the film, like the very funny ending, but this scene just felt unsavoury and wrong, but it is the only real misstep of “By Design”.
Overall, “By Design” is a one-of-a-kind absurdist comedy that will not be for everyone, but one I had a pretty good time with. There are moments where it is extremely funny, and everyone acting in the film is both game and fully committed to fulfilling director Amanda Kramer's vision which is certainly out there. I thought Juliette Lewis was hilarious in this (by basically just lying there), and it was so good to see Samantha Mathis in something again after so long. I was also impressed by Melanie Griffith's very amusing narration. This is a small film, with a very limited audience, but at least it is a true original, and I am certainly glad that I saw it. If you have ever wondered what a body-swap film between a chair and a human would be like, “By Design” is for you; it is certainly the best chair-human body-swap film out there......oh, and don't forget it has interpretative dance scenes too.
3 Stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment