WORDS EOIN McCAGUE
David Lowery is in a strange place. “It’s been a joy. A gut wrenching, turbulent joy,” the Dallas-based filmmaker admitted. “There’s no way to pretend that going to Sundance and then Cannes isn’t a dream come true.” Unless you’ve been travelling the US film festival circuit in recent years, chances are you hadn’t heard the 32-year-old Texan’s name until a few weeks ago. Cinephiles and critics alike seem determined to change that after September saw his second feature, the astonishingly confident Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, open to rave reviews. Critics stumbled over themselves praising all aspects of the production, from the meandering hand-held cinematography, to the sublime poetic pacing of the story. Meanwhile, film fans have held Lowery up to be the next shining beacon of American cinema, the natural heir to Jonathan Demme and Robert Altman. While the backlash has yet to hit, there is one problem: an elephant in the room that even the most committed of his fans couldn’t fail to ignore. “I didn’t expect the Malick comparisons to be quite so profuse,” Lowery noted. Ah yes, that elephant. “I think we talked about him exactly once while we were shooting the movie. Altman, on the other hand, I will own up to entirely.”
Since Saints’ debut in Sundance (where it picked up the Special Jury Prize in Cinematography) Lowery’s effective use of lingering shots at dusk, minimal dialogue and inspired sound design has prompted many lazy comparisons with a certain other Texan auteur. These analogies are unfounded. Unlike Terrence Malick’s recent output, Lowery’s is a subtle work that utilises three-dimensional, identifiable characters whose problems allow the viewer an emotional core to latch onto. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is certainly a slow burner of a film, detailing the aftermath faced by outlaw couple Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) and Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara) who find themselves trapped in a shootout with the authorities after a botched job. Apprehended and separated, Ruth mothers their newborn daughter and waits patiently while Bob executes a jailbreak, believing faith will protect him from harm. Their reunion is threatened as the forces of the law and jilted ex-partners emerge from the darkness and intervene. Alongside Affleck and Mara, Ben Foster delivers a career-best performance as a conflicted sheriff injured in the initial shootout, who clearly harbours deep feelings for Mara’s character.
Lowery’s success may seem meteoritic, or even premature to some. In fact, the writer-director has been paying his industry dues for more than a decade, working alongside contemporaries (including Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg and the Duplass brothers) to form a collective of artistic expression that calls to mind the New Hollywood of the 1970s. On paper it is quite difficult to pair Ain’t Them Bodies Saints with the works of the aforementioned mumblecore masters, however Lowery was quick to highlight that “my first film, St. Nick, was my version of a mumblecore film. Technically speaking it’s right on par with those films, and in fact Joe Swanberg shot a great deal of it — but on the other hand, it doesn’t have much dialogue. And it’s set in a different sort of world, and that’s just my style coming through.” When quizzed about whether any healthy competition has arisen due to the group’s newfound commercial viability Lowery replied, “I love seeing my friends staying busy, and seeing their work reach audiences. It’s inspiring to me. I don’t think there is any competition healthy or otherwise.
Lowery’s film is one of the most rare of beasts now found in our multiplexes: a film for thinking adults shot on film. “Once we started talking about making this movie for more than 50 thousand dollars, 35mm became a regular part of the conversation,” Lowery explained. “I love digital and am comfortable with it, but certain stories demand certain things, and one of the things this movie needed was all the abstract qualities that only celluloid can provide.” Lowery’s affection for the Old School is apparent when he discusses how he and lenser Bradford Young achieved the startling darkness that pervades many scenes, calling to mind the works of Gordon Willis. “We had to fight to use 35mm on this film. We didn’t take it lightly either — a great deal of time and testing and experimentation and then even more time went into creating the look for the film, especially that sense of darkness,” he clarified, before going on to reveal an unlikely source of inspiration. “The characters have had their heyday when the movie begins, and so it made sense for the look of the film to begin at twilight and then taper off into darkness, until it finally reaches full blown night, I think about the lyrics of that Bob Dylan song — ‘it’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there,’ that’s what we were after, thematically speaking.”
Indeed, music plays a large part in the film. When questioned about his collaboration with composer Daniel Hart, Lowery wasted no time in displaying his affection. “Daniel is one of those collaborators who understands what I want without me having to tell him. I remember talking to him about the overall feel of the movie, and some of the instruments that I thought would work well. And then he went off and just started writing music.” Hart, like Jonny Greenwood before him, has successfully made the difficult jump from band member to film composer. When asked about the iconic handclapping that permeates through certain sections of the film, Lowery was quick to heap praise on his colleague, “The first time I heard that handclapping was the first time I truly understood the movie’s tone. It became the backbone to the movie in a way I had never anticipated.”
The director was also quick to praise his extraordinary cast. While Affleck and Mara are appropriately believable and touching as doomed lovers, when asked about the criminally underrated Ben Foster, Lowery had nothing but plaudits. “Ben brought a great deal to the role. As written … he was a much more straightforward character. A nice guy, a pacifist. Ben took umbrage with the last part, and confronted me on it. He felt the sheriff could still be a gentleman and a sweetheart but he didn’t have to be a pushover. I disagreed at first but gradually came to see that he was right. That was a wonderful discovery – it helped me grow not just as a director and a writer but also as a person. It taught me a great lesson about empathy.”
More so than the influences of Altman or Malick, it is Lowery’s home state that makes its presence felt in his second feature. All the more remarkable, as Saints was shot in Louisiana. The film is rooted in Americana, at times playing like an American fairy tale, and Lowery makes it abundantly clear that the Lone Star State impacted heavily on the finished product. “Texas was always meant to be a character in the movie. I still live there and it’s a part of my identity. There’s a particular spirit to Texas, a rebellious ideology, that is appealing to both outlaws and filmmakers alike,” he pointed out, “and while we shot most of the interiors and such in Louisiana for budgetary reasons, we packed up a van of equipment and actors and drove across the border to make sure those epic exteriors were honest-to-goodness Texas. Nothing else looks quite like it, and I’d have hung my head low if we hadn’t been able to capture that specific look.”
When asked if he has found any spare time at the festivals to appreciate other films, Lowery replied, “My two favourite films this year are, I think, Post Tenebras Lux by Carlos Reygadas and The World’s End by Edgar Wright. I definitely make time to see as many films as possible, especially at film festivals.” As for what’s on his horizon, Lowery shot back immediately, “I could spend hours talking about Paul Thomas Anderson[‘s projects]. I just love them. I am extremely excited about Inherent Vice. I love the book, love the cast, love thinking about what PTA will do with that material. I can’t wait.”
Speaking of multi-award winning filmmakers, surely with all the buzz surrounding his own film, Lowery must be feeling pressured to dust off the tux and prepare some cue cards? “Awards are nice but I’m too uncompetitive to really care — the experience is reward enough. And buzz is strange — it’s greatly helpful on the one hand and completely counterproductive on the other — it’s wonderful that people are excited about the movie and a little less so when expectations are pushed through the roof.”
Expectations have been raised however, with the internet left waiting with bated breath for news of this innovative director’s next project. Lowery, in keeping with his use of 35mm and preference for archaic music, pays no heed to these new-age critics, with their affinity for split second reactions. “Two weeks ago, I stopped reading reviews, stopped Google searching the title, stopped thinking about the movie in general.” Really? “Good reviews would go in one ear and out the other but the bad ones worm their way into your skull and keep you awake at night,” he explained. “I think most filmmakers experience this, and probably most artists in general.” David Lowery is indeed in a strange place, almost trapped in the wrong era, and only time will tell if this Texan’s spectacularly purist approach to cinema can find its place in the hearts of those looking for a return to the intelligent, non-compromising films that lit up our screens in the late 70s.
