Non-stop chop shop

>> Maurice Deveraux's relentless $la$her$ takes a stab at Fantasia

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Take American Gladiators or perhaps an excruciating, Endurance-style Japanese contest show, factor in some Texas Chainsaw psycho killers and shoot it all as one continuous take, like Hitchcock's Rope, and you've got local filmmaker Maurice Deveraux's $la$her$. Proof that clever ideas and hard work cancel out the shortcomings of a low budget, $la$her$ is fun, surprising and even thought-provoking.



Mirror: Let's talk about the idea of the one non-stop take.

Maurice Deveraux: Doing a low-budget production on a tight schedule is hard enough. That just cranked up the heat, the nerve aspect. Things that seem very innocuous or simple become extremely difficult when you do it all in one shot. The goal is to make it seem effortless, while making it feel like you're not missing anything that's off-screen. The idea of doing a movie like this had been a dream project, but I never had a story that would suit that aesthetic and prevent it from being simply a gimmick. Suddenly, three years ago, it just hit me. It was something that would enhance the subject matter, and at the same time something that's not very common in these days of fast cutting and shots from every angle.

M: The main character had a strong political point to make in being on the show--

MD: I had the strong feeling that this could happen. All it would take would be one country deciding, 'Okay, if they sign the forms, we won't stop it--it would be legal.' It's not something implausible. It shows why this would be so popular, but at the same time, how wrong it would be. All these shows have a car-crash entertainment value, but I've never been a fan of car crashes.

M: Do you think it'll have legs in theatres?

MD: I shot it on high-definition video, the same thing as the next Star Wars, so blowing it up to 35mm would look fantastic. There would be no problem, visually, for it on the screen. It's just a question of the money to get it there. Would it find its audience? Well, you can never know these things, but I think if a big publicity budget was put behind it, it would attract as many people as an Urban Legend or any other horror film. When word gets around that it's scary, the kids won't care that there's no stars in it. With a horror film, what you want is to be scared--that's why Blair Witch worked.

At Cinéma Imperial tonight, Thursday, July 19, 9:55pm