I often use the phrase "unprivileged angles" to describe my preferred camera technique: backlit subjects, follow-cam, lopsided compositions, one actor obscured behind another.

But Canary reaches a new level. Images are dominated by occlusions and barriers. Whereas unconventional angles in Around the Bay serve to distance the viewer from the characters, in Canary these shifting cages trap the characters, or lend a surreptitiousness to the action (and inaction).

Theme as technique as theme.

Greater than plot. Greater than character. Greater than genre. Greater than you. Greater than me. Greater than the sum of our parts.

Texture is the desired result of all my incoherent efforts.

I write this as I blithely ignore month-old emails from friends and associates. Since the premiere of Around the Bay, I feel I've been extracted from the usual substance of my life, like the pit of a fruit cut out and set aside. Something along the way--the lopsided screenings and incommensurate press bonanza, the time spent, the money spent, my mind and body spent, wife and children neglected--has set me adrift.

I just wanted to share what a great experience filming was on Canary. The free flowing spontaneity and improv was a delight. This style helped flex some linguistic muscle that was a simple joy.

I look forward to meeting the rest of the cast and Cinequest and any other venue that Alejandro and Amanda get us into!

Boris

Showing up on location to shoot my scene, I was reminded of the opening sequence of VANYA ON 42 STREET, one of my favorite play-within-a-play films.

A half-dozen actors dressed in their own clothes, cardboard cups of coffee in hand, make their way along bustling New York City sidewalks to the front door of a run-down theater. (In CANARY, our set was a somewhat less romantic, glass, wood, and leather-upholstered law office conference room in Palo Alto, California, but you get the idea.)

That was the best film experience I've ever had. Everything from the audition to production. Alejandro is organized, thoughtful, and easy going. Such a nice Director to work with. And Mariah, my "love interest", who's beautiful, kind, and sweet. The crew was amazing. You'd never know they were there, coming in from four to five angles at once. What a team.
Looking forward to seeing it all come together.
This was the highlight of 2007!
Hope to work with you again.

I was pleasantly honored to participate in yet another of Alejandro's productions, Canary. When Alex contacted me to do a scene for this film I of course jumped at the chance to experience once again his "secret sauce" style of directing.

Wow. What a wild and crazy day this was. Multiple personalities converging for the first time and improv. An editing challenge not for the lighthearted. I have to say that casting was superb. What a great group to work with. And Amanda makes the best coffee! Looking forward to seeing the final cut.

I just watched the first trailer.
My God, ...what have we created?!
How exciting!

Hello everyone,

I was asked to participate in this independent film and I found it surprisingly really fun. In the movie I played a Russian teenager, who struggles for independence from the authority of her strict father. Ironically, my real father played my onscreen father; this was a little strange for me.