|
|
|
Article by Kerri Huffman Visiting a therapist, your volition can be daunting enough Being forced to go to please a loved one is another matter entirely. So is the story of Shrink, the short film by Annex-based director Tim Hamilton showing at this year's Toronto international Film Festival. Shrink explores the fears faced by Alex as he makes his first visit to a therapist on the instance of his girlfriend (Brigitte Gall) after she catches him sleepwalking. There were times when I wondered how people would react to the film because the subject matter is fairly banal. But I think the drama comes from him blowing everything out of proportion and turning everything into this angst-filled experience: Hamilton said. 'I really did want the film to be something to relate to on an every day kind of way, but to show that for eve ryone these problems take on a gran diose proportions.' Alex's fear of visiting a therapist leads to a series of bizarre situations which range from the hysterical to the dark and serious. When confronted with the therapist, he begins to imag ine she is laughing at him, but later his mind wanders off as he daydreams about being interviewed by TV show host Daniel Richler on a program about writers. I did want the film to have ' comedic elements a bit of comedic sensibility in terms of Timing. But because it's a dramatic film we are pulling back from the it all the time, - the director explains. I wanted to have a balance there and I always told the actors that I didn't want them to play it for laughs, I just wanted the comedy to come from the situations and often there wasn't my any comedy to comedy at all, it was quite serious. Hamilton, a director of music vid eos and commercials, took a great in terest in the look of the film, and the set design contributes to the sense of panic Alex is feeling. While he's in the therapist's waiting room he picks up a copy of Psychology Today with "Lobotomies!" emblazoned across the cover The therapist's office also features a series of ominunous paitings by Edvard Munch My itial thought was to use The scream because it's such a jokey thing now, and it wound be such a Funny thing to have in a psychiatrist's office. But it's such an overused image that I didn't want to use it again. I quite like Munch's paintings and I thought those paintings related specifically to his views on women,' Hamilton said The Vampire in the waiting room related to his dreams of vampires and the Madonna painting shows his dual feelings about women, again as very threaten ing and sexual versus very pure. Even though Alex's first visit to the shrink has been an ordeal for him, the film ends with a sense of hopefullness. The end was meant to be a little bit ambivalent, the direction I gave Johnathan was that when he says that he's going back to the therapist he may be Iying, but he may not be Iying. He's undecided as whether he's going to back,' Hamilton noted slyly. But it's su osed to be positive. My intention is to show that psychoanalysis is a re ally useful thing for a lot of people. Shrink follows the stream of consciousness of one man during his traumatic first visit to a psychoanalyst. Alex's fear comes not just from facing the analyst, but also from confronting dark secrets that he can't even admit to himself. Shrink is a romantic comedy that thinks it's a horror film (or is it the other way around?). It is a film about unconscious passions, and the bizarre ways they are expressed. Tim, Hamilton - director Shrink is Tim's first dramatic film. Up to this point he has been best known for directing high end television commercials for Avion Films in Toronto and for his award winning music video work for such bands as Crash Test Dummies, Ron Sexsmith, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockbum, Colin James, and Rheostatics, through Toronto's Hoodoo Films. His other work has included documentary television direction, sketch comedy writing for television, and extensive work as an editor. Tim is a Toronto based filmmaker. |