The One and Only
Black&White 16mm film (4'30")
Soundtrack is courtesy of Richard Galliano, Ini Kamoze, Leon Haywood, The Breeders, Diana Ross and Quentin Tarantino
With Yvonne Blumenstock, Loek Leclaire, Sunil Malhotra, Lucia Vargas and Michael Tillotson
Directed by BQT in Bloomington (Indiana, USA) in November 1997
SYNOPSIS
She's sitting alone in a bar. Who she is is anybody's guess. Physically, she's the sophisticated kind. Right now, she looks bored. Maybe she's waiting for someone, or something...
There's that big self-confident guy, the macho type, who's sitting at another table and who's been looking at her for a while. He stands up and comes near to her. He sits in front of her and starts to chat. She doesn't answer. Instead, she just ignores him. He insists. She coldly and scornfully looks at him.
Blackout. The guy is gone... She's alone again.
There's that Latin guy, the romantic type, who's sitting at the corner and who's looking at her. He gently comes near to her and tries to establish contact. She doesn't answer. He won't insist and goes back to his seat.
She's alone again.
There's that gorgeous girl, who's been observing the whole scene for a while from another table. She stands up and comes near her. She tries to establish contact. No reaction. She insists. No reaction. She starts to get angry and ends up hammering the table. The "sophisticated" girl remains stolid. Depressed, the other one eventually gives up and starts to move from the table. As she walks away, the Latin guy comes to her to console her. They eventually leaving together...
She's alone again...
Suddenly, as the door opens, the girl's face lights up in joy. There at the threshold stands her beloved. He's waving at her. Since the light comes from behind him, all we can see from him is a silhouette. Yet, we can still distinguish his four arms and antennae...
THE CAST
Yvonne Blumenstock (the sophisticated girl) is an MBA exchange student from Germany at Indiana University.
Loek Leclaire (the macho man), a business student, has just graduated from Maastricht University in The Netherlands.
Sunil Malhotra (the Latin lover) is an art senior student at Indiana University. He's majoring in Theatre & Drama and in Telecommunications. He directed several short films in Chicago and Bloomington (including sync-sound color films) and acted in several productions as well.
Lucia Vargas (the gorgeous guy) is a business student at ITESM Monterrey in Mexico.
Michael Tillotson (the barman) is a film student at Indiana University.
PRODUCTION NOTES
The film needs to be understood as a fable about tolerance and independence. It actually takes place in a society free from any kinds of prejudice, where former social frames have been abolished.
The project intends to be both sophisticated from a cinematographic viewpoint and light from a narrative viewpoint. As a result, the atmosphere should be the one of a film noir, in which lights and shadows are going to play major roles so as to emphasize the characters' personalities. At the same time, the pacing should be sharp enough to cheer up the subject along with relevant music samples. The main interest of the film rests therefore upon its dual approach to tolerance, between tragedy and comedy, mystery and evidence, silence and exuberance, darkness and light...
Since the film is intended to be both entertaining and provoking, given that it undermines any forms of fundamentalism as well as activism, it should address a large audience: pure entertainement-seekers as well as more demanding viewers.
The shooting at Second Story Club turnt to last forever. In the meantime, the crew had to cope with a certain amount of technical problems: bulbs, for instance, just passed away one after the other and disturbed the light setting as well as the whole shooting plan. Also, we ran out of film and the tripod was of no use...
Here are some critics' comments:
"Good story idea. You have a knack for really interesting cinematography. A lot of effect went into choosing the right angles and creating atmospheric lighting and images. You probably lost several shots that would help all the elements come together to create a consistent story, such as better shots of her reaction to the "one and only" etc. Your change of angles and styles with the different suitors makes the whole appear a bit choppy and comes across as arbitrary. A more straight forward approach would help the audience focus on the essential story. Your sense of visuals is good, one can tell what this film could be if all the shots had come out!" (Susanne Schwibs, Motion Picture Production course teacher at IU)
"Focusing was great, use of racking focus helped setup the mood of the film, music added to the story a lot, good fulfilment of a story, ending was a little vague though, some focusing was a little off too..." (The Motion Picture Production class)
© BQT - May 1998