by Dov Kornits
“Phillip Noyce and I had known each other professionally for several years and had become friends,” filmmaker Svetlana Cvetko [left] tells us from the US. “He always kept a pulse on my work and was excited to learn I was working on my own feature film. I showed him a cut and he loved the film, but he took me aside and said, ‘You’ve got dynamite here, but you didn’t make it explode’.
“He could see that the style was working well, but he pushed me to go further with it, take more chances. I asked him to be our Executive Producer and he agreed to mentor me throughout the process. He taught me to eliminate any place where the filmmaker draws attention to themselves and to dig deeper for a purity of spirit within the film.
“One time he said, ‘You managed to go through the whole film with a subtle ego. Only in this one scene do you call attention to yourself’. For him, the scene he pointed out broke the spell that the audience was already in.
“He also taught me a lot about the ways that music enhances a film, explaining that acting and editing and camera work are all processed by the mind, but music goes straight to the heart. Music has no filter. And that one has to be aware and respectful of that. I spoke with Eric Avery [founding bassist of Jane’s Addiction, who past credits as composer include The 11th Hour and We the People 2.0], our composer, about that in depth, and it struck a chord with him. Eric brought such an amazing spirit to the film.
“It was such an honour to work with Phillip, and I was absolutely welcoming of his guidance, with his years of filmmaking experience! He clearly believed in our vision and ability to tell this story in the beautiful way we wanted, and just simply helped us enhance it. After watching the final cut, he congratulated me with a grin, ‘Your film is now done’. That was one of my happiest moments in the process.”
The film is Show Me What You Got, primarily a three-hander, mostly shot in black & white, about 3 young adults who meet by chance in Los Angeles and forge a strong relationship through the course of the film that will change all of their lives forever. Marcello (Mattia Minasi) is the son of a famous Italian TV star who arrives in LA to take meetings on behalf of his dad; Nassim (Neyssan Falahi) is a half French/half Persian actor/martial artist who is broke and doesn’t want to leave LA for his family elsewhere; they meet Christine (Cristina Rambaldi) working at a cafe, but she’s really an artist.
“We had been yearning to find a story that could reflect Svetlana’s experience of being an immigrant in Los Angeles,” says Producer/Editor David Scott Smith [left]. “Discovering LA, being dazzled by the lights and endless opportunities; family trying to influence one’s life from a distance; building a ‘chosen family’ through friendships; and friends speaking English together, but family conversations requiring native language. When we cast actor Neyssan Falahi, who led us to Cristina Rambaldi and Mattia Minasi, we knew we had manifested the international cast that was perfect for this film. We continued to develop the story and characters through spending time with the actors in pre-production. Involving our actors as creative partners from the beginning was an amazing experience. Not just in how rich it made the story and their performances, but an intimate and trusting relationship developed among us all that fed naturally into crafting this story.”
Show Me What You Got is clearly influenced by Jules et Jim; did the filmmakers feel that Francois Truffaut’s film of 50+ years ago applied to the young adults of today? “Jules et Jim is my favourite film and we are honoured by the comparison,” answers Cvetko. “But this is definitely a modern day film showcasing a current generation. And your question is interesting… Do these themes speak to a generation? But don’t modern generations emanate these themes? From our perspective, the spirit of the film emanates from the people in it and making it. We ourselves live in the soul of our film. A lot of attention is paid to the menage a trois, but we feel our characters lived through moments and experiences without defining them. They don’t discuss, they simply live fully without boundaries. Every feeling is worth following, because the length of our life isn’t under our control.”
Yes, the menage a trois… how did they manage to make the intimacy of the actors ring so true? “A big part came from working together with the actors for months before production began,” answers Cvetko. “They were creative equals, and we designed their characters and the story together. So, we had a lot of trust in each other well before the cameras started rolling.
“My father passed away just before we started filming, so I arrived in Italy very emotionally drained and vulnerable, and they welcomed me and gave me comfort, so we had a relationship of trust and love that had already been well tested and proven.
“The shooting style of the whole film utilises my background as a cinematographer, and it is me operating the camera for the entire film. I, as the director, am not buried behind monitors, I am right there with our actors. I can just lower the camera, whisper direction to them, bring the camera back to my eye, and continue filming.
“I protected that intimacy with all my being, because I could sense that it became so important and meaningful to the performance. We developed an intuitive sense for each other’s movements and a style that was like looking into each other’s eyes. And having the camera on my shoulder all day while also directing wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but I never even considered hiring an operator, because I knew that intimacy would be lost. This connection was something I nurtured and treasured as the director.”
Show Me What You Got is available now on Digital at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play.
