So I was hanging out with the guys from The Body the other day (we were having a picnic if you must know), and they were talking about how glad they were that I wrote about their recently released collaborative LP with The Haxan Cloak, I Shall Die Here (TMT Review), in this here news section, which then resulted in it getting EUREKA! status today… and it really made for some great date small talk if I do say so myself. After a bit more light chitchat and some wine, they asked me if I might want to tell the world about the new short film At the Mercy of It All, inspired by and featuring music from I Shall Die Here. And boy do I ever! But I’m nervous too, because me and The Body are supposed to go on a second date next week (we’re gonna get froyo and see the new Wes Anderson movie), and I don’t want to make it awkward!
Me and my big mouth! That first paragraph probably already did plenty to make things awkward, didn’t it? With all that feelings talk and whatnot? Cutting to the chase: starting today you can watch the new film, directed by Jason Evans and starring Todd Schrock, entitled At the Mercy of It All (it’s embedded below). It’s about a guy who lives in a cabin in the woods, but who decides that instead of making music for people to play over the ending of NBC’s Parenthood he’s going to go ahead and try “desperately to hold onto his memory while forced to confront a raging storm.” Uplifting! Evans says the “emotional content of the film” grew out of his very visual experience of The Body’s I Shall Die Here. He says the music kept him returning to “this image of a man, his face covered in dirt, but his arms still moving and his eyes open. Body and soil.” Life-affirming! Also very similar to what I thought the movie Mud was going to be about! To get serious for half a minute: if you’ve ever thought to yourself “I wonder what a movie version of a Brian Evenson short story would be like,” you might want to seriously consider watching At the Mercy of It All.
To go back to being not-serious: tune in next week to see if The Body give me a rose and we go on a third date, or if they decide to send me packing. Fingers crossed!
• The Body: https://www.facebook.com/pages/the-body/334047229514
• RVNG Intl.: http://igetrvng.com
More about: The Body, The Haxan Cloak
