by Paul Kelman
Writer-director Parish Malfitano’s dark, psychological thriller Bloodshot Heart has its world premiere at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival (Couched). With its nod to the Italian Giallo horror-thriller genre, it follows 44-year-old Hans, still living with his mamma. When Matilda, a tenant moves in, Hans relives old memories and becomes obsessed. To win her love, Hans comes up with a perilous plan.
Bloodshot Heart is a psychedelic, sensory delight and could be the next Aussie cult film classic. Before the festival, we caught up with some of the cast and crew.
Where did the idea for Bloodshot Heart come from?
Parish Malfitano: The inspiration for Bloodshot Heart came from a news article I read about a German man in his late forties whose name was Hans, he worked as a security guard at the Broadway Centre in Sydney. One night, some people broke into the mall with the intention of robbing the various shops, Hans protested, wanting to do his job and was subsequently murdered. He had no family in Australia, being a German migrant, and somehow the idea of this lonesome man, whose death nobody really seemed to notice, felt incredibly tragic to me. It was upon further reflection that certain themes emerged – loneliness and the central idea of a hero, and Bloodshot Heart began to take shape. Even though the real-life Hans story is significantly different to what the story ended up being, it was the crux of what I held onto throughout the initial development of the story.
The character of Hans (Richard James Allen) reminded me a little of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, was that film or character an influence?
Richard James Allen: Actually, Norman Bates never really came up in the preparation Parish Malfitano and I did for the character of Hans and it is many years since I have seen that film. There is some comparison that could possibly be drawn in the two characters’ plot lines, but Hans is not motivated by fear of his mother. Rather, he is tortured by longing for a past he has probably largely invented. His nostalgia allows him to mask his present failures and excuse his own incel obsessions as somehow protective of a mythical pure love he has lost. I always find it deeply frustrating when the ‘bad guy’ is a one-dimensional character, an unfathomable black hole. So, as an actor, even though I would find this person reprehensible in real life, I have to try to find out what his tragic flaw is – what delusion he holds that makes him seem rational and moral to himself. Kind of like the idea of Shakespearean tragedy, in which we see a character that we can, as an audience, on some level, empathise with, even though they have obvious flaws or deficiencies in their make-up. This deepens our horror when these characters do succumb to their worst aspects when they go beyond the pale. Only if we have empathised with them, even in some small degree, can we, as an audience, really be confronted or disturbed by a character like Hans.
The art direction in the film was very distinctive, with almost lurid yellows and greens. What sort of atmosphere did you want to create with this?
Parish Malfitano: My intentions were for every colour in the film to correlate to specific characters or ideas, for example, Hans – red, Matilda – yellow, Catherine – purple. This immediately established a vibrant visual colour palette and aesthetic. Our fantastic production designer, Dylan James Tonkin (NIDA), was able to include much of the natural sights and sounds of Australian wildlife, so as to highlight the environment that Hans feels so alien and disconnected from.
The colour palette was also a direct response to Australian cinema, where usually a psychological thriller such as this would be desaturated, stale and bathed in blues. I wanted to work against our expectations, linking back to ‘70s Italian and American cinema.
Hans suffers from a debilitating illness that throughout the film becomes progressively worse as he moves towards psychosis. Certain colours trigger him – for example, yellow, which is connected to the character, Matilda. The recurrence of the colour yellow throughout the film symbolises Hans’ growing delusion as he moves further towards a dream-state. Another recurring colour is the blue light, representing a kind of surreal ‘portal’ to the past, symbolically indicating that he is further losing touch with the reality of the here and now.
When you dream, you remember the feelings rather than specific events, therefore, it was essential that we established a feeling of being in a dream-state, where everything felt connected to a greater meaning. I have a strong belief that dreams bear meaning, and, with this film, it was important to establish Hans’ slow progression into his dreams.
This concept was realised further through the use of light and shadow, incorporating a lot of lamps within the space with warmer tones to provide those warm yellows throughout the film. The use of lens filters helped to diffuse some of the crisp detail of the lights, pushing the visuals further towards a film-like quality, and from reality.
Our colourist, Daniel Pardy, responded to the film’s narrative as it progressed, reflecting Hans’ mental state, intentionally blowing out the highlights and saturating the colours, giving the film a feeling of unreality. It was all about thinking logically about each step in the creative process and working to establish a framework around how each step would communicate the concepts of delusion and reality.
It was great to see Dina Panozzo (Packed to the Rafters, Bed of Roses) back on screen as Hans’ mother Catherine. Her relationship with her son is creepy, to say the least. What was the motivation behind creating that mother/son dynamic?
Parish Malfitano: Dina was incredible and onboard right from the start with our short proof of concept. For me, understanding who Catherine is, and providing insight into their relationship, is imperative to understanding Hans, and how his thoughts have been influenced by the closest person in his life, Catherine. Her love is obsessive to the point of being quite controlling. Ultimately, the film is about a troubled man, stuck in a sort of vacuum to the past, haunted by the overbearing beliefs of his mother. It’s not that the mother is the cause of his actions, but she certainly does influence his morality and identity, whether she intends to or not – he needs a way out. When discussing the character of Catherine with Dina, it was always important to her that she was able to project a feeling of control and of power – she had to come across as dignified, always proud, even though internally she is very vulnerable.
It’s always a challenge to raise financing for a film, how did you go about this?
Martin Thorne: The finance came from a variety of sources – pre-production was crowdfunded, production was a combination of private and deferred wages, we had great support from post-production companies and last-minute angel investors to bring it home. It was an early decision not to wait or compromise for government funding and keep a distinctive film.
There are some great locations in the film, particularly the old railway tunnel. Where was the film shot and how did you go about finding the locations?
Parish Malfitano: We shot mostly in Wollongong (which is where I grew up), and the North Shore Sydney suburb of Roseville, where we did all the interiors for Hans’ apartment, which coincidentally was going to be demolished shortly after filming. This meant that we had to furnish it completely from scratch. This was of course quite challenging but also provided us with a great deal of artistic freedom. In addition to this, we also shot at Palm Beach, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. In terms of finding locations, it was a mix of familiar – such as the railway tunnel at Helensburgh, which I knew would serve the script appropriately. We all did a lot of research and hunting to find the ones I didn’t already know of, such as the Italian Restaurant or swimming pool, both in Leichhardt.
This is your (Parish Malfitano’s) first feature out of film school, what projects have you got coming up and is it a difficult time at the moment to get work happening due to COVID-19?
Parish Malfitano: Completing the post-production of Bloodshot Heart over the course of a year provided time to work on other writing projects. I’ve recently completed my second feature script, a horror film about family trauma and food set in the mountains. Additionally, I’m working on the next draft of another feature script set in Tasmania with a friend of mine. My intention was to keep busy with other projects while working on the completion of this one, so as to build momentum. Obviously, there are challenging circumstances at the moment in terms of COVID-19, so I will have to push harder in order to be able to have the chance to tell the stories I want to tell.
The camera work by Susan Lumsdon is quite exceptional. There’s a shot towards the end of the film which follows Hans through the house of horrors. What was the technique behind that shot?
Parish Malfitano: Susan did an incredible job along with Aleksei Vanamois and the rest of the camera team in helping bring to life some pretty elaborate camera setups. The intention for this shot was to show the culmination of all that Hans felt, all the rage, sadness, desperation in one shot, and to further highlight that we are well and truly in his point of view. An emotional release.
Our second unit director of photography, Aleksei, created what is referred to as a Snorricam, which allows for the camera to be attached to the actor with the help of a vest which unifies spectator and character, providing the audience with a feeling as if moving with him. This particular shot was something I’d envisioned in early versions of the script, I knew it had to encapsulate a vital moment of complete catharsis, a moment of no return.
The performances behind Hans and Matilda (exceptional work by Emily David) must have taken you both to dark places; was it easy to shake the characters off after the film was completed?
Richard James Allen: I love acting. I love to explore mindsets and points of view, psychological states and clusters of emotions, that are not my own. I love the discoveries that are made when you are fully present and responsive as a performer.
In terms of shaking off the ‘dark places’ of Hans, I think it was actually helpful for me to have acted in the proof of concept. I remember, after that shoot, I felt quite odd for a few days as if I had a screw loose or something. With this in mind, I took on a much more holistic psychological analysis and strategic preparation for the feature, which allowed me more smoothly and swiftly to access the depths of the character but also to exit much more quickly.
Emily David: I actually found this role harder to shake than normal. It was my first feature, so perhaps the longer timeline played a big part in her lingering with me. But on top of that, she was also a really personal role. She isn’t given much backstory in the screenplay, which was scary but also very exciting. Characters like that give you freedom as an actor to create history and life to play with. Parish and I had long chats about what I thought was going on for Matilda – where she’d come from and why she was here. I found huge joy in discovering facets of her and so I suppose it went both ways. Feeling the joy means leaving room to feel the darkness too. When she experiences what happens in the film, it became a personal attack of sorts on the life I created for her.
Parish, which directors are you most influenced by?
Parish Malfitano: Certain directors have influenced me in very specific ways. Thematically, masters such as Martin Scorsese and Pedro Almodòvar; stylistically, in terms of how Brian De Palma and Bertolucci move the camera, or aesthetically (specifically in their use of colour, lighting and design), directors such as Krysztof Kieślowski, Wim Wenders, and Mario Bava.
However, even more so than directors themselves, composers such as Ennio Morricone, had an even greater impact on me as a filmmaker, in terms of shaping my understanding of rhythm and tone through the score. The film is a progression of mood and feeling and what better way to learn how to maintain this than through a composer such as Morricone.
Richard, as a respected producer was it a challenge to also act in the film? And, what projects do you have coming up?
Richard James Allen: It was sometimes challenging, especially when unexpected issues came up in pre-production when I wanted to be focusing more on character development and rehearsal. It helped that I was involved in the development of the script, so I was always interpreting every producing problem and its solution through the lens of realising the characters and their journeys. And I have a long history in the ‘actor/manager’ tradition in live performance and film, so I am used to juggling things. But I do want to say here how deeply grateful I was to our First AD, Eleanore Knox (also an actor), who made a public statement on the first day of the shoot that I was to be treated as an actor during filming days, which allowed me to focus on performance, leaving production meetings to the end of the days or the days off. And, of course, we had a very capable production team during that time, starting with Martin Thorne as an overall Producer and Levi Meltzer as Unit Production Manager and Eleanore, who was also Production Coordinator. After the shoot, during the long process of post-production and now into marketing and distribution, I have stepped so far away from the character that it seems like it is someone else up there on the screen playing Hans. So, apart from some brief ADR, the focus has been entirely on producing.
And this distance, I believe, has been helpful in working with our wonderful post team – including supervising editor, Karen Pearlman, editor, Shannon Michaelas, composer, Ola Turkiewicz, sound designer, Matt Perrott, foley artist, Les Fiddess, colourist, Daniel Pardy, and sound mixer, Stuart Melvey.
It’s funny because quite often one of them would joke with something like, “I don’t know how I feel about having Hans sit behind me in this sound suite!” And I would laugh back and say something like, “No, it’s just Richard sitting back here behind you. We are all constructing the character of Hans together on the screen in front of you.” Which is so true and it is a profound privilege as an actor to witness, as a producer, the rich layers of collaboration that take place between all the departments on a film to create what we, as an audience, understand to be a fully dimensional, living and breathing character on screen.
In terms of other projects, the last short I produced and acted in, I want to make a film about women, directed by Karen Pearlman, has just been nominated for six awards and won two of them: Best Documentary at St Kilda Film Festival and a Special Mention Dendy Award for Live Action Australian Short at Sydney Film Festival. So, I am juggling distribution for both this film and Bloodshot Heart, and a poetry and dance feature I recently directed, Text Messages from the Universe, which is also screening in festivals around the world and winning awards.
Future projects in development are Karen Pearlman’s new feature film and a slate of ideas I am developing with Martin Thorne, including a historical tv series, set in Australia, which I am very excited about.
Main Photo by Ian Provest
