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Dark Night is screening on June 25th, 2016 @ 7:30 as the Closing Night Film of BAMCinemaFest. NYC MOVIE GURU: How important is it for you as a filmmaker to trust the audience's intelligence without pandering to them? Tim Sutton: I want the audience to watch the film as an experience, not necessarily as a story that's told line for line for them. I want them to bring their own ideas, imagination and even their own prejudices. The more that they're engaged in the movie, the more that they have to absorb in the movie, and the more that it'll stick with them. The movie is designed to not have perfectly executed plot twists or heroes and heroines; it's supposed to stick around in your brain as a question mark. If you allow your audience to think for themselves and to observe things rather than dictate things to them, those kind of films have a longer life at the back of people's heads. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you feel that patience is a lost virtue nowadays? TS: I still believe that patience is a virtue. Challenge is a good word rather than a bad word. I have had some critics who have said about my films "It demands patience" as if it's a bad thing. You can spend time in an art museum looking at a painting or you can walk right by it for 10 seconds or you can stare out it minutes or hours. The longer you spend with it, the more it's going to engage with it and the more you're going to engage with it. I have no problems with tentpole movies. I enjoy them. But Dark Night and my other films are about cinema. Cinema is about entertainment plus challenging the audience to have real experiences rather than watching whatever's on the screen. If I do a long tracking shot of someone walking for 10 seconds, you see the shot and move on. If I shoot for a while, the audience will wonder "Why is this shot lasting for so long?" But if it lasts even longer, they walk with the character and forget the question of why the shot is so long; they're in the shot. If you're about to construct shot after shot like that where you're deepening the experience and putting time away, they'll have a more immersive experience. I believe in that and love films like that. These kind of movies demand a different kind of patience in order to be effective. NYC MOVIE GURU: How important is the opening shot of your film or any film for that matter? TS: I planned the extreme close-up of the eye flickering. The first thing that this movie is about is about observing. We are observing as an audience this scenario more than we are being walked through a specific storyline. So, I wanted to start with someone observing. At the same time, you want to think that she's watching a movie, so the eye is watching images flicker, the eye is flickering and then the red and blue colors appear, so then you realize that she's at a crime scene. I wanted three things for audiences to realize right away: the idea of observation, being in the theater and being part of a tragedy. The opening and closing shots of a movie are not just bookends, but they are vital. In the first shot, you can really capture an audience and get them involved right away. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think it's realistic to make a film for everybody? TS: No, I don't think so. I think that if you're making a film for everybody, you're trying to please everybody. Some films should make you feel uncomfortable. I'm making movies that need to feel authentic---not like a documentary, though. The world that's being created has to be seen. It has to bring you in and never make you feel like "Oh, that would never happen!" You can be bored in my movies, but you are involved and engaged, and that's the most important thing. The language of my movies is meant to bring you in in a specific way---it's a slow burn, step-by-step. Hopefully, by the end, you're feeling deeply immersed and the language is purposeful. It's not for everybody, but Spielberg isn't for everybody either. NYC MOVIE GURU: How do you feel about the negative stigma that comes with the word "depressing" when describing a film? TS: I think that there are depressing movie experience, but people bring their own experiences that are mirrors. The idea that I'm just trying to make films that are meaningful and create their own meaning. Maybe it's affecting your energy in a way that depresses you. Other people see movies like this that are dark and get power from it--a sense of some kind of insight. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that sometimes style can become substance? TS: I think that form equals substance, and style is a part of form. When it comes to the language of the films that I make, my exit point is always visuals--the image. If you take the sound and edit away from the movie, you still get the image, so it's always the most important thing for me. I believe that even a parking lot in the middle of Florida can have a sense of beauty. I find beauty in parking lots as much as I find beauty in beaches. So, it's about finding images that I find mesmerizing or curious or filled with a pastoral sensibility---that's how I see the world. I'm trying to talk about my point of view of the world and how I see certain things translate into that aesthetic. If you're creating images that are filled with meaning, even if that meaning is complex or serious, I feel very strongly about it. I know that it will translate for an audience that's paying attention. NYC MOVIE GURU: Why did you decide not to actually show any violence Dark Night? TS: I have no interest in making a movie that showed violence or, God-forbid, glorified violence. The violence is a threat. The violence is the atmosphere---the dread in the suburban areas. The more that you play around with that landscape, the more frightening that it becomes because it's the unknown. When there's an explosion in a movie, that's the known. When you're seeing someone walking through a parking lot, hear screaming without knowing where it's coming from, that's scary. So, I feel that the psychological aspect of it is what I'm more interested in. It's a difficult subject matter, and in no way do I want to disrespect anyone who's been hurt by gun violence. The movie is not judgmental or political. It's a movie that tries to just look at the lives of people and how they live. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that the desensitization toward violence is an issue in America? TS: Yes, I do. I don't have any facts and figures about this---I'm not an expert on violence or sociopolitical activism in any way. But when a culture glorifies huge, violent, turns them into video games, advertises them to kids, it makes them mainstream and then they're surprised and horrified when there's a true act of violence. I think it's all connected and stitched together in the same fabric. I'm not about censorship in any way, but we're promoting violence all the time. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you feel that patience is a lost virtue nowadays? TS: I still believe that patience is a virtue. Challenge is a good word rather than a bad word. I have had some critics who have said about my films "It demands patience" as if it's a bad thing. You can spend time in an art museum looking at a painting or you can walk right by it for 10 seconds or you can stare out it minutes or hours. The longer you spend with it, the more it's going to engage with it and the more you're going to engage with it. I have no problems with tentpole movies. I enjoy them. But Dark Night and my other films are about cinema. Cinema is about entertainment plus challenging the audience to have real experiences rather than watching whatever's on the screen. If I do a long tracking shot of someone walking for 10 seconds, you see the shot and move on. If I shoot for a while, the audience will wonder "Why is this shot lasting for so long?" But if it lasts even longer, they walk with the character and forget the question of why the shot is so long; they're in the shot. If you're about to construct shot after shot like that where you're deepening the experience and putting time away, they'll have a more immersive experience. I believe in that and love films like that. These kind of movies demand a different kind of patience in order to be effective. NYC MOVIE GURU: How important is the opening shot of your film or any film for that matter? TS: I planned the extreme close-up of the eye flickering. The first thing that this movie is about is about observing. We are observing as an audience this scenario more than we are being walked through a specific storyline. So, I wanted to start with someone observing. At the same time, you want to think that she's watching a movie, so the eye is watching images flicker, the eye is flickering and then the red and blue colors appear, so then you realize that she's at a crime scene. I wanted three things for audiences to realize right away: the idea of observation, being in the theater and being part of a tragedy. The opening and closing shots of a movie are not just bookends, but they are vital. In the first shot, you can really capture an audience and get them involved right away. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think it's realistic to make a film for everybody? TS: No, I don't think so. I think that if you're making a film for everybody, you're trying to please everybody. Some films should make you feel uncomfortable. I'm making movies that need to feel authentic---not like a documentary, though. The world that's being created has to be seen. It has to bring you in and never make you feel like "Oh, that would never happen!" You can be bored in my movies, but you are involved and engaged, and that's the most important thing. The language of my movies is meant to bring you in in a specific way---it's a slow burn, step-by-step. Hopefully, by the end, you're feeling deeply immersed and the language is purposeful. It's not for everybody, but Spielberg isn't for everybody either. NYC MOVIE GURU: How do you feel about the negative stigma that comes with the word "depressing" when describing a film? TS: I think that there are depressing movie experience, but people bring their own experiences that are mirrors. The idea that I'm just trying to make films that are meaningful and create their own meaning. Maybe it's affecting your energy in a way that depresses you. Other people see movies like this that are dark and get power from it--a sense of some kind of insight. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that sometimes style can become substance? TS: I think that form equals substance, and style is a part of form. When it comes to the language of the films that I make, my exit point is always visuals--the image. If you take the sound and edit away from the movie, you still get the image, so it's always the most important thing for me. I believe that even a parking lot in the middle of Florida can have a sense of beauty. I find beauty in parking lots as much as I find beauty in beaches. So, it's about finding images that I find mesmerzing or curious or filled with a pastoral sensibility---that's how I see the world. I'm trying to talk about my point of view of the world and how I see certain things translate into that aesthetic. If you're creating images that are filled with meaning, even if that meaning is complex or serious, I feel very strongly about it. I know that it will translate for an audience that's paying attention. NYC MOVIE GURU: Why did you decide not to actually show any violence Dark Night? TS: I have no interest in making a movie that showed violence or, God-forbid, glorified violence. The violence is a threat. The violence is the atmosphere---the dread in the suburban areas. The more that you play around with that landscape, the more frightening that it becomes because it's the unknown. When there's an explosion in a movie, that's the known. When you're seeing someone walking through a parking lot, hear screaming without knowing where it's coming from, that's scary. So, I feel that the psychological aspect of it is what I'm more interested in. It's a difficult subject matter, and in no way do I want to disrespect anyone who's been hurt by gun violence. The movie is not judgemental or political. It's a movie that tries to just look at the lives of people and how they live. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that the desensitization toward violence is an issue in America? TS: Yes, I do. I don't have any facts and figures about this---I'm not an expert on violence or sociopolitical activism in any way. But when a culture glorifies huge, violent, turns them into video games, advertises them to kids, it makes them mainstream and then they're surprised and horrified when there's a true act of violence. I think it's all connected and stitched together in the same fabric. I'm not about censorship in any way, but we're promoting violence all the time. Main Page Interviews Menu Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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