Movies are sometimes easiest to explain in terms of personality. You have your strong, silent types. Your deep and profound types. Your clever and witty types. And of course, unfortunately, the excruciatingly socially awkward types. If Funny Bunny were a person they’d be that guy you avoid desperately at parties. They’d be the person you’d be incredibly tempted to be pulled into an argument with, but know that it’s a fruitless endeavor. Funny Bunny is that person who prides themselves on being as idiosyncratic as possible while simultaneously believing they stand for deep and moral issues. Funny Bunny thinks it’s both complex and interesting. Spoiler alert: it’s neither.

Alison Bagnall now has three films under her directorial belt with Funny Bunny, and having written all three herself—not to mention a fourth, her screenwriting debut Buffalo ’66—it’s easy to decipher her preferred storytelling technique. Which is to create the most unusual people possible, throw them together, add a dash of drama and see what happens. It may boil down to how much weird you can personally handle, or finding bits and pieces of these strange characters to identify with, but, at least in the case of Funny Bunny, it all forms a rather frustrating, incomplete, and just plain gawky viewing experience.

The film begins with quirky character #1, Gene (Kentucker Audley), a divorcee and door-to-door activist raising awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic. During his daily crusading he comes to the house/mini-mansion of quirky character #2, Titty (Olly Alexander), who invites Gene in, runs away giggling and then awkwardly invites him to a sleepover. Gene has enough sense to find that strange, but when his ex-wife and her new man kick Gene out of their house for good, Gene decides to take Titty up on that sleepover offer. Titty is happy to take him in with nary a word about being complete strangers to one another. Titty shows Gene his computer where a girl in a wig, holding a bunny, cries into the camera that she doesn’t have the funds to cover medical expenses for her poor rabbit. Titty eagerly pulls out his credit card and types in the numbers. The girl perks up, thanking him over and over.

Turns out Titty is a trust fund kid who sued his parents and now lives alone, emotionally stunted and harboring some blatant mommy-issues. The girl on the computer screen is quirky character #3, Ginger (Joslyn Jensen), an animal rights activist who spends quite a bit of time in front of her online audience. Titty has developed quite the crush on Ginger and when he tells Gene about his feelings they decide the only logical thing to do is go see her. The two of them jump into Gene’s beat up old van the next day, buy Ginger a new bike, and show up at her back door bright-eyed and eager to make friends. She threatens them with a knife, declaring how creepy their actions are. It’s probably the most true-to-life reaction of the entire film.

Soon enough she comes around and invites the two of them to camp out in her backyard. She introduces them to the animal rights activist she follows and Gene and Titty are privy to a plan to set pigs free from a local farm in protest—though before that a member of the activist group did oddly offer to murder a toddler in the name of the cause. Afterward, Titty, Gene, and Ginger get drunk together and Ginger dances for them in what is a painfully long and puzzling scene.

From here out the script tries to develop some sort of love triangle between Titty, Gene, and Ginger. Each guy gets some alone time with Ginger, and each time she portrays intense signs of trauma and possible former physical abuse when she rejects their physical advances. The film seems as though it may pick up speed when the pig-freeing caper goes wrong for one of the group, but it figures itself out easily enough and the film ends almost without notice.

Bagnall makes some interesting artistic decisions with Funny Bunny, choosing to linger quite long on her subjects. She seems to pride herself on what most would consider painfully extensive scenes of emotional reactions. With so little backstory and such eccentric characteristics defining these characters, it’s almost impossible to understand the depth of these emotional reactions and feel any sympathy. Combined with the in-and-out of focus panning of the camera lens, dark lighting, and lack of music the film is mostly baffling with hardly much to commend it. Jensen is put on the line most, acting Ginger’s passionate and troubled outbursts for extended periods and maintaining the most credibility of these three excessively strange characters.

It isn’t necessarily Bagnall’s attraction to outliers and weirdos in her stories that ultimately hinders Funny Bunny, it’s the alienation that occurs when viewers are asked to empathize and care about the emotional bursts of these strange people simply because they are dramatic. The people of this film may be outlandish, but its plot is so thin that the overall effect is distinctly dull. Somehow, I think even animal rights activists, rich teenagers, and childhood obesity advocates would balk at the proceedings of Funny Bunny, which makes one wonder who out there is this film intended for?

Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch’s indie-pop fantasy God Help the Girl is a musical that’s been in the works for a good decade or so. In 2009 he finished and released a concept album of the same name he’d been working on since 2003, and now with the film (his directorial debut), he’s brought his vision to life visually as well as sonically. The film follows three young musicians in Glasgow (played by Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray) who form a band and spend a summer writing songs, playing random gigs around town, and ruminating about the virtues of artistic integrity.

We spoke to Murray about Julie Andrews, being a Belle & Sebastian fan, being in her first musical, her favorite songs in the film, the two happiest months of her life, Stuart’s natural knack for directing, and more.

This was obviously a big passion project for Stuart. A very personal film. What was your first conversation with him like about what he wanted from you in this role?
Hannah: He told me to be like Julie Andrews! [laughs] I auditioned for Eve initially, but looking back on it, I think he was always thinking about me as Cassie. He wanted me to be very posh and energetic. He was like, “Think of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music!” I was so excited to meet him at all. Every now and again, you have these auditions that sort of feel like, “Even if all I get to do is audition, what an amazing experience it’s been to have met this person.” I was really nervous to sing in front of him. Like you say, it was such a personal project for him, so he had so much to say about the characters and the story, and he was always so engaging when he talked about the project.

Stuart said in an interview that deciding on the final cast was one of the most difficult decisions of his life. That’s got to feel good.
Hannah: It makes me happy. Of course you want to make your director happy on any job you’re doing, but I think on this, the three of us felt such an increased desire to impress him because we had so much respect for him because of Belle & Sebastian. I always think about this film like…there were only three people that got to have the experience we had, and we’re so lucky. It’s so flattering that Stuart wanted me to be a part of it.

Do you think you’ll look back at this making this project as one of the most special times in your life?
Hannah: Absolutely. It was one of the most incredible, emotional experiences I’ve ever had. It was two of the happiest months of my life. Really brilliant. I also feel like, whatever else happens in my life and career, I think I’ll always feel so lucky to have been a part of this.

What was it like doing choreography and singing on camera? Was this a first for you?
Hannah: Yeah, definitely a big first for me. It was really fun. It’s one of those things where, you get the job, and you’re like, “What an exciting challenge!” Then, two weeks in, you’re absolutely terrified and hating it. [laughs] But by the end, it’s gone back to being really, really fun again. All those days when we did the musical numbers felt so magical. I never thought I’d get to be in a musical, and it’s such a joy to sing and dance for your job. And to do it with people you really get on with and don’t feel so self-conscious around because you’re all in the same boat is great.

What’s your favorite musical number in the film?
Hannah: I love them all so much! [laughs] “I Just Want Your Jeans” was sort of my song. It was incredibly special, and that number was the last thing that I shot. It felt like the culmination of working on the project, and it was really exciting to have a solo. It think that song’s beautiful, and I love the stuff that it talks about. It’s really unusual subject matter. I love “Musician, Please Take Heed” as well. I think that’s a gorgeous song, and Emily does such an amazing job with it. Of the parts of the filming I wasn’t involved in, that was one of the things I was most excited to see, how that whole sequence came together. It’s so impressive.

What was it like watching yourself sing and dance with an audience for the first time?
Hannah: It was really amazing. I got to see it at Sundance, and I’ve never felt so proud of something I’ve done and been so excited to have other people see it. All of us kind of feel like we had such an amazing time making it that it doesn’t really matter if people like it. It’s like a bonus, really. I’m really excited for it to come out because I feel such a warmth toward it. It’s nice to feel that way, and it’s a new feeling for me. I know that I love the film, and that kind of stands on its own.

You obviously gelled with Stuart and your co-stars quite well. Is there an itch to work with them again, or was this experience something so dear that you just sort of put it away?
Hannah: I worked with Olly on a TV job just a couple months after shooting. I also got to do a Belle & Sebastian music video about a year after we did the film, which I was so flattered to be able to do. I had to sort of act with Stuart, which was a fun experience. [laughs] I would love to keep working with all of these people again. They’re the best.

What made this project different from others you worked on? What did Stuart, Emily, and Olly bring out in you?
Hannah: I always used to believe that good work came out of being miserable and angst-y and tortured and that if you were playing someone that was unhappy, you had to be as unhappy as them. I thought creativity had to be hard, with a lot of conflict. My career has progressed to the point where I really don’t buy into that anymore. This film was probably the biggest thing that made me switch that off. I felt so supported by the people I was working with, and I felt really relaxed and safe. Because of that, I could try anything. We did quite a lot of improvisation, which terrified me in the past, but this was fine because I knew these guys wouldn’t judge me. It was the freedom they gave me that allowed me to take risks.

Stuart’s a first-time director, but anyone who’s familiar with his music knows that his songs are quite cinematic already.
Hannah: Absolutely! I really agree with that. He’s such a great storyteller, and he creates these characters in his songs, so it feels like a very natural progression for him to make a film. I really hope he does more films, because he’s really naturally gifted at it. He didn’t really know what the “rules” were, and he had a bit of a different approach, but that was very exciting. Also, he loves cinema, and he has such an incredible knowledge of movies. He gave us so many references to think about, introducing me to films I never knew about. He obviously shouldn’t give up being a musician, because he’s brilliant at that, but I think he’s very strong in both disciplines.

I kind of miss movie musicals. I wish there were more of them.
Hannah: Me too! I’m a huge musical fan, and early on when I was 12-years-old and wanted to be an actor, I thought I only wanted to be in musicals. It seemed like the most fun way of doing it. There definitely aren’t enough musicals out there. I think what’s great about this film is that we’ve shown that you can make a musical on a much smaller budget than people would have necessarily thought. I hope that’s going to open up people making more and more smaller musicals that aren’t exactly Les Miserables or Chicago. Not that I don’t love those films, but I think musicals are having a renaissance right now, and people really love them. I hope people make more and more.

Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch’s indie-pop fantasy God Help the Girl is a musical that’s been in the works for a good decade or so. In 2009 he finished and released a concept album of the same name he’d been working on since 2003, and now with the film (his directorial debut), he’s brought his vision to life visually as well as sonically. The film follows three young musicians in Glasgow (played by Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray) who form a band and spend a summer writing songs, playing random gigs around town, and ruminating about the virtues of artistic integrity.

In our conversation with Alexander (the lead singer of his own band, Years and Years), we talk about the fun he and his co-stars had on set, having the best job in the world, landing the role with a “shitty” keyboard, where being an actor and musician intersect, his songwriting process, and more.

Thanks for taking the time to chat, Olly! I know you guys are having a really busy afternoon.
Olly: That’s okay! It’s quite exciting.

Oh good! So you like talking to press?
Olly: I don’t normally get to do this, so it’s quite fun!

Speaking of having fun, I interviewed Hannah as well, and she was saying that you guys had a lot of fun making this movie.
Olly: We did! Too much fun. I feel like it’s probably wrong to have that much fun at work. I can’t really think of another film I’ve done where I’ve looked back on it with such fondness. Everyone always says, “It was such a great group of people,” or “The script was so good,” but I feel like they’re lying a lot of the time. Making movies is sometimes really hard and depressing, but this one was so fun all the way through. I’m just happy I got to be in it, really.

What was the chemistry like on set between yourself, Emily, Hannah, and Stuart? Tell me about some of the fun you guys had.
Olly: We hit it off instantly. I’d known Hannah for a few years prior, and the three of us met on a train up to Glasgow for rehearsals. We got a bit drunk and talked about our love for Belle & Sebastian. Our sense of humor is quite similar, so we have a lot of in-jokes and we’re probably terrible to be around. [laughs] We’re just laughing all the time. Also, if your job is just singing and dancing, that’s pretty much the best thing ever. I can’t think of a more fun thing to do, you know?

That is a cool gig, my friend.
Olly: Right? I’m not having to break down or play some tortured, abused person. It’s just fun!

Stuart said that casting you three was one of the hardest decisions of his life.
Olly: He’s been living with this movie for 10 years, so it must be hard to find the right people. I’m hoping he feels like he made the right choice. [laughs] Stuart told me that the reason I got the part was because the other guys who auditioned for James did these guitar covers of Springsteen or Bowie or Bob Dylan or whoever. I wrote my own song and played it on my tiny, shitty Casio keyboard, and he said that that was something James would have done. He intended for James to be way older, so I’m glad I got it!

You’re a musician and an actor. Where do the art forms intersect for you? In other words, what creative tools do you use in both?
Olly: That’s a good question. I’m still trying to figure that out. When you’re acting, the idea is that you’re creating the character, and emotions, and stories. But you have a much more direct relationship with that when you’re a musician, because you’re writing the music. You’re performing on stage. You’re the writer, director, and producer all at once. I feel like it’s a much more instant creative satisfaction than acting, in a way. Actually, the more and more I act and play music, the more I feel like they’re really different. [laughs]

Because of your background as a musician, I’m sure you were able to pull from your own life experiences quite a bit when acting out scenes like the fight with the drummer and passing out fliers to recruit band members.
Olly: Oh yeah. I never did the flier thing, but I’ve definitely played a lot of shows where stuff has gone wrong. I haven’t gotten into a fight on stage, though! [laughs] But I’ve played lots of shows where the audience isn’t really into you and stuff. I get that frustrated musician thing, because that was my life for a long time.

Talk to me about Stuart as both a director and a musician.
Olly: What’s really great about Stuart is how relaxed he is. I imagine making your first movie is a pretty terrifying experiences. I’d be having daily nervous breakdowns. But he was so calm, and that really filters down to the rest of the crew. He’s so easy to be with and work around, and he also trusted in what we were doing, so we could just do what we wanted. [laughs] He’s also quite instinctive. I wish I’d picked his brain more on his songwriting process, but as a musician, I think he’s so prolific and instinctual.

What’s your songwriting process like? Do you start with the chords or do you start with the melody?
Olly: I start with chords and sort of vocalize a melody over it. I write on piano.

Piano is the best songwriting instrument, I’d say.
Olly: Yeah, definitely. It’s the most forgiving songwriting instrument for sure.

I miss movie musicals. I wish there were more of them. Do you feel the same way?
Olly: I do now, but I have to be honest; I wasn’t a fan of the musical film genre. I just wasn’t. I haven’t seen Grease or Cabaret…I just haven’t seen that many musicals. But now that I’ve been in one and seen how fun it can be, I want there to be more, definitely. I feel like people love them, right? This one’s sort of different because it isn’t a glossy, high-production-value musical. I mean, I think there’s a part of everyone that thinks life would be better if you could just burst into song and dance. They’re right! [laughs]

In your opinion, is the film emblematic of a music genre, a time period, or Stuart himself? What does it represent?
Olly: It’s very much Stuart’s vision. I think people will know what to expect if they’re Bell & Sebastian fans. Why I love the movie so much is that it’s Stuart’s story–all the films he loved growing up, living in Glasgow, creating a band–it’s all an expression of him.

It’s a scary thing for a first-time director to take on a musical in his first at-bat, but Stuart Murdoch is a seasoned artist with experience in another art form. That art form happens to be music: Murdoch is the frontman of Belle & Sebastian, which obviously gives him a unique advantage in his charming debut, God Help the Girl, an indie-pop fantasy set in his beloved hometown of Glasgow. Murdoch released a concept album of the same name in 2009, and the film version of his passion project is a natural, seamless extension of his initial vision. It’s a bit too restrained on all fronts, but the film’s young leads are wonderful, the songs are catchy and clever (Belle & Sebastian fans will be thrilled), the cinematography is shimmery and sharp, and it’s an all-around pleasurable experience.

But above all else, Murdoch gives indie kids a film that speaks (and sings) to them directly. Our two central characters meet at a rock show in a small club. Watching the show from the crowd is Eve (Emily Browning), an aspiring musician herself who’s just escaped the walls of the mental health center where she’s being treated for anorexia and anxiety. On stage is a nerdy singer-songwriter named James (Olly Alexander), who gets into an on-stage (eventually spilling off-stage) tussle with his drummer because he can’t hear his vocals over the drums. After the show, James finds Eve sulking in a stairwell, and a friendship (and a band!) is born. They soon recruit another musical collaborator by the name of Cass (Hannah Murray), a cheery confidant who’s cute as a button and loves riding bikes. Anyone who came up in the indie club scene will recognize just how truthful a representation of the culture Murdoch’s put on screen.

But the film isn’t grounded in authenticity or reality; this is a musical after all, and the summer of songwriting, random kayak rides, and bowling alley gigs we see our trio share is a more heightened, wondrous version of the culture it represents than an accurate portrait of it. They’re living in an indie dreamworld. If you’ve ever tried to recruit band members by posting fliers around town, you know how unfruitful (albeit classic) a recruiting method it is. (Yes, I’ve done this before and yes, it was pathetic.) Eve, James and Cass have no trouble with this, as they find themselves literally running away from a hungry pack of would-be band members, giant smiles on their faces. Moments like these are genuinely gleeful, warm and fuzzy, adorable, and unstuck from reality.

Cracks eventually do begin to form within the band, because if they didn’t, the already paper-thin plot would be all but shapeless. There are disagreements about band names, debates on the virtues of artistic integrity and commercial appeal, and a weak romantic angle revolving around Eve, but none of the drama is affecting. The story is completely formulaic, but the good news is that Murdoch’s music isn’t; the musical numbers are the film’s strongest asset, with Murdoch’s lyrics conveying the characters’ mindsets nicely. The jaunty, sometimes tender songs are beautifully written and orchestrated, and a few Belle & Sebastian classics are weaved in as well. (The playful “Funny Little Frog” is a welcome inclusion.)

Alexander is sweet and likable, and it’s clear that he can genuinely play the instruments in his hands. (Outside of acting he’s in a band called Years and Years.) James is more than a little archetypal, but Alexander is so good you won’t really care. Murray’s enthusiasm is enchanting, but her singing voice feels a bit withheld and faint. Browning’s voice, on the other hand, is extraordinary, as is her non-singing performance, and her dollish look works well with cinematographer Giles Nuttgens’ vibrant visual style. The intimate moments between Eve and Olly are tender without feeling mushy, like when she crawls in bed with him late at night because she can’t sleep. He gently drapes his arm around her with no motive other than to ease her worries.

If there’s anything to knock about the film’s look, it’s that the camera movement feels too choreographed and rigid. A more free-flowing approach might have reflected the characters’ wild spirits better. Murdoch and Nuttgens make Glasgow look absolutely gorgeous, with the blue-ish gray urban architecture nestled in lush greenery acting as the perfect setting for their modern fairy tale.

God Help the Girl trailer

Not content with merely being the singer/songwriter for a beloved band, Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch makes his feature film debut as a writer/director with God Help the Girl. Murdoch’s first film features stars Sucker Punch‘s Emily Browning as Eve, a girl in Glasgow who forms a pop group and spends her summer crafting songs alongside friends Cass (Hannah Murray) and James (Olly Alexander).

The new teaser, set to songs by Stuart Murdoch, gives the new movie a quirky look and feel. Almost as if the objective is a Wes Anderson-esque approach to the movie-musical. Many shots utilize parallel framing in the style that Anderson loves, and there are bright, contrasted colors in many scenes. The result seems like a charming take on coming-of-age, and many of the reviews out of Sundance (as well its other festival stops) corroborate that idea.

God Help The Girl will be released in New York City on September 5th, see the poster and watch the teaser trailer below:

Trailer for God Help The Girl

God Help The Girl movie poster

It is difficult to describe Enter The Void in words because the film is completely about the visuals, which results in more of an experience than a traditional film. It will likely be unlike anything else that you have seen before. However, you should know going in, it is not an easy film to watch. The long run-time of 161 minutes is mostly comprised of incredibly vivid flashing colors and shot mostly in subjective camera (from the point of view of the main character), which makes watching this visual work of art overwhelming at times.

Unlike the visuals, the storyline itself is not very complex. A drug dealer named Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) lives in Japan with his sister Linda. The two made a pact to never leave each other as children and have been living together since their parents died in a car crash. At the beginning of Enter The Void, we see Oscar using a drug called DMT (which is said to have a similar experience as death), because of his interest in the “Tibetan Book Of The Dead”. In what was thought to be a routine drug exchange with a friend, Oscar finds himself trying to escape from the local police after he discovers it is a setup. He manages to lock himself in a bathroom where he tries to flush the drug evidence down the drain. The police become impatient and shoot him through the door. He then reappears as a ghost to watch over his sister for the remainder of the film.

The camera work and CGI are unbelievably well done and deserves every bit of recognition it has received, if not more. Over 100 graphic artists were used to create the effects on the film. Every single scene was digitally altered to include the CGI. The end result is a beautiful film with lots of vibrant strobe neon lights and unorthodox camera techniques. A great example of this is at the very beginning when the subjective camera view is in play. When the character blinks, the screen goes dark for a frame or two, mimicking the effect of seeing exactly what the character does.

Enter The Void is one long psychedelic trip. I almost feel like I did a dis-service to it watching it sober, but the film does such a good job of making you feel like you are on the drugs the characters are on. However, if you suffer from epilepsy you may not want to watch this, it has constant flashes of bright colors that could be dangerous.

The story does not really start picking up until about an hour in. So the film as a whole moves too slow and is unnecessarily long for how little of a plot there actually is. It does not help that most scenes are not real time but more like half speed. The slow moving transition between scenes is very unique, but ultimately becomes overused and repetitive. After a while this effect starts to become frustrating.

If you are looking for a visual cinema experience that you most likely have never had before, look no further than Enter The Void. Gaspar Noe sends you on a psychedelic trip that can really only be described as superbly unique. But know what it demands dedication as a viewer to sit through the entire film.