Be Good was number two on our top 10 list of films at this year’s SF Indiefest (check out our review), and director Todd Looby spoke with us about the movie, his filmmaking process, working with Joe Swanberg, what makes a good film festival, if he’s competitive with other filmmakers, and much more. Be Good will be hitting the Florida Film Festival in April.

The film follows Paul (Thomas J. Madden), a filmmaker stay-at-home dad, and his wife, Mary (Amy Seimetz), as they take care of their newborn baby girl and struggle with the balancing act that is parenthood.

Where did you get the idea for Be Good?
Be Good came out of a two-week period where I had taken over watch of my daughter, Tessa, after my wife’s three month maternity leave. I thought it would be a lot easier than it was. I thought she would sleep, (while I) worked. As long as I could work, I could do what I wanted to make a living and be the breadwinner of the family. (That idea has) been drilled into my head since I was a young child. I want(ed) to do my fatherly duty. The day-to-day duties of being a father (doesn’t allow for much) sleep and didn’t allow me to work. I was just…stuck. I couldn’t do the things I thought a father should do. As I got used to it, I figured out just how good of a situation I was in. I took all the drama and all the anxiety I felt in those two weeks and dramatized it to play out the extremes of what were going on in my head. I wrote an 8 page extended outline, (which) wound up becoming the (film.)

As a father, your primary duty is to take care of your child. Now, that can be two things. You can take care of them materially, or you can take care of them with love. Those things always come into conflict. Throw ego in the mix, and it further complicates things. You have to provide for your family by earning money, but you also have to provide love. Ego seems to push you toward looking good to the outside world by providing for your family through your career. It’s this constant juggling act…where you have to continually kill your ego.

Is (the main character) Paul anything like you?
I would say not. What I did in constructing Paul was put someone in my situation, (but have) him make really poor decisions and be a lot more arrogant than me. My thought was, if we made a character just like me, in (my situation), it would be pretty boring. I definitely dramatized it and fictionalized a lot (about) the character.

So were most of the dramatic scenes in the film fictionalized?
There would be little situations that would happen to me, and I would say “Wow, what if I was a total moron. How would this play out?” I think I constructed it in a way that it did work (and was) interesting to watch.

You are in the film, but you play TJ, Paul’s friend. How was that?
I loved playing TJ. He is a guy who is in the exact opposite situation that I was in. (He’s a) bachelor with no job, no real aspirations. (He’s) just a guy who sits around and gets stoned all day. It was a lot of fun to step outside of the responsibilities I have in day-to-day life. Not that I would want to be TJ (in real life.)

But he’s a great friend!
Yeah. I have friends that are similar to him. The thing I like about TJ which I find in a lot of my friends is that they’re always there criticizing you, sometimes encouraging you, but at the end of the day, they’re always your friend, no matter how bad you screw up.

Why didn’t you play Paul?
I was planning on it, but about a week out from production, the guy who was supposed to play TJ dropped out. I was always on the fence about playing Paul. It was (maybe) hitting too close to home. It felt a little weird. I wound up having a conversation with (Thomas) Madden who wound up playing Paul, and it just hit me that he should be the one playing Paul. He would be the best person to do this. He agreed and helped produce it, so everything sort of came together magically. He does a way better job than I would ever do!

How did you assemble the cast and crew? You’ve got some very talented people who worked on the film.
I contacted Joe (Swanberg) in March of 2011. When I first thought of the movie, I thought if we’re going to do this movie about a guy who has a terrible attitude and has all these doubts about his (filmmaking) career, who better a person for him to talk to than Joe? His daughter was born two weeks after my baby in the same hospital, and I saw Joe (around) and always had that in my head. I contacted Joe and asked if he’d be in the movie. His film Uncle Kent was screening at the Siskel film center, so I went there and met Frank V. Ross and Jim Jacob. (Jim) has a cameo in the film as a film festival director, and Frank wound up doing sound (for the film.) Frank hooked me up with Mike Gibisser (cinematographer.) So that was all set. I asked Joe for Amy’s email, and I emailed her, we had a conversation, and she was sold. Two months later, we were shooting.

I expanded the role of Mary when Amy came on set because she was so easy to work with. Just seeing her be in that role, I wrote in a couple things while we were there to get to the meat of that role, which is essentially the most important role in the film. One of the things I noticed during that two-week period (when I came up with the idea for the film) was the biological attachment that my wife Monica had with Tessa. It was something beyond intellectual understanding. Fathers have something special too, but there’s something extremely unique about a mother’s bond with her child. It was something that I thought was magical. A lot of our friends who are moms of newborns are highly educated, very ambitious women, but when their baby came along, most (of them) wanted to stay home. Amy really embodies that whole spirit in the character.

In the film, you suggest that Mary’s eye might be wandering to a co-worker. What I liked was that you were subtle with it and didn’t hit us over the head with the situation. Explain your choice to tell your stories so realistically.
I think a lot of things are unnecessarily overdramatized in films. I think the power of suggestion is way stronger than (showing.) Planting an idea in someone’s head, if you’re communicating with the audience…you know…they see it, they know what’s happening, and they know the subtext. To go beyond (suggestion) I think is cheating a little bit because in real life, the vast majority of those (type of) interactions with co-workers never materialize into anything scandalous.

You know, when you have a filmmaker making a movie about an artist, like Woody Allen making a movie about a filmmaker, you know he’s talking about his artistic process. I just wanted to be straight with it and play things out realistically. That’s my approach to filmmaking in general; seeing how much I can gauge an audience without using dramatic stops, showing explicit sex, violence. (I’m) just trying to engage with people’s heads.

At SF Indiefest, you said that what surprised you most about having a newborn was how much focus is put on the pre-birth phase of the baby’s life in society, and not what happens after the baby is born.
That was a big surprise. After Tess was born, we discovered that she didn’t want to sleep.  I really never heard that that was a problem before. I honestly can’t think of one person who said “sleeping is so key.” I just can’t believe it, because after you have a baby, that’s the first question couples ask each other. “How’s she sleeping?” It makes all the difference in the world for your sanity. It’s crazy. (I) wish they had “after-birth” classes! It was a lot of trial-by-fire (learning.)

What makes a good film festival?
First of all, the program has to be solid. Any festival can (not) provide us with money or any other things big festivals have, as long as you have good films and filmmakers that are interesting and talented with whom you can hopefully collaborate later with and ask for advice. That’s how I judge a festival, by how good the program is. (Secondly), it’s nice for them to have a budget to give me some free stuff now and again. At the very least free beer. A filmmakers’ lounge is good. It facilitates the networking and it’s just great to commiserate with everyone.

What type of work can we expect from you in the future? Do you plan to stick to this genre or deviate into something different?
I’m always looking to branch out and do different things. For the past three years on and off I’ve been working on this book adaptation called A Saint on Death Row, a story about a kid on death row in Texas. It’s been interesting to get out into another world. I would love to challenge myself to do something different, but for the most part, I think I’m best at sticking to characters I know first-hand and life situations that I’m going through that I can see reflected in society as a whole. Be Good is not necessarily (just) my experience, but what I’ve seen so many couples go through. I meet a lot of people going through the same thing.

You say you enjoy speaking with fellow filmmakers. Are you ever competitive with them when you make a film?
When I go about making a movie, I don’t think that it’s going to be better than this movie or that movie.  No competition comes in at that point. But, when the movie is done and you see it getting passed up by other movies, (I) do get a little competitive there. “That movie won!?” It’s stupid to think that, but you just can’t help it. (However), you can’t let that stuff bother you and you’ve got to cheer other people on, because at this level is definitely struggling. Very few (independent filmmakers) are making a living doing (this), so you have to support them.

The lineup at this year’s SF IndieFest was unbelievably strong; I anticipated that there would be at least a few certified duds, but that wasn’t the case. Though I didn’t love every film, each had its unique voice, ambition, and spirit. From the lowest-budget short to the most polished full-length feature, they all offered a brand new experience. This made making my list of ten favorite films very difficult. I connected with many, many films at the festival, but these ten are the ones that I felt compelled to champion the most.

Top 10 Films from SF IndieFest

#1 Simon Killer

The thing about Simon Killer is, it’s a difficult movie to digest, but in the best way possible. The teeth-grinding level of discomfort Antonio Campos and Brady Corbet are able to achieve in Simon Killer resonated with me more than anything else at the festival. Corbet finds a way to make Simon both magnetic and repulsive, and Campos captures Paris at its most deeply colorful and richly textured. Pound for pound, my favorite movie of the festival.

Remember to keep it tuned in to Way Too Indie in April for our full review of Simon Killer and our interview with director Antonio Campos.

#2 Be Good

Though not as flashy as Simon Killer, Todd Looby’s Be Good also finds its protagonist going through alarming mental transformations that surprise even him. Be Good will break your heart stealthily, little by little. Joe Swanberg’s All the Light in the Sky does the same and shares the same naturalistic tone, but when it comes to picking my personal favorites of the festival, Be Good just hits closer to home. Every moment in this movie feels earned, and Looby’s characters are handled with care. It’s the type of movie that just might teach you something about yourself by the time the credits roll.

#3 I Declare War

There were more than a few movies at this year’s festival that evoked feelings of nostalgia, but I Declare War recalls an era of movies (The Goonies, Stand by Me) that I just happened to grow up with. The kids playing their supposedly innocent ‘game’ quickly realize that their heated prepubescent emotions are too powerful to contain. The child actors’ performances are beyond impressive, and the film’s intensity and stakes are consistently high throughout the running time.

#4 The Legend of Kaspar Hauser

‘Strange’ does not begin to describe this movie. To attempt to describe what ‘happens’ in The Legend of Kaspar Hauser would be to betray it. It’s a visually and sonically stimulating film that rubs you in a way that no other film can. It will make you laugh, squirm, headbang, ponder, gag, yadda yadda yadda. You just…you just need to watch it. It’s absolutely nuts… in a good way.

#5 Antiviral

Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral serves as a showcase for its gifted lead actor, Caleb Landry Jones, much like two other films at the festival, Simon Killer and The Story of Luke. What sets Jones’ performance apart from the other two is his spine-chilling physical transformation. Cronenberg’s imaginative and haunting imagery are as arresting as his fathers’, but Jones makes use of every bit of his body to burn the images of his painful deterioration into our minds.

#6 All the Light in the Sky

Films are best when they act as a mirror, illuminating our darkest fears and forcing us to confront them. As Jane Adams, as Marie, fights internally to find her place in this gigantic world, we realize that she’s fighting something we all must all face sooner or later. Nobody has captured the 21st century adult on film quite like Joe Swanberg, and he delivers another stunning time-capsule work of art with All the Light in the Sky.

#7 The Story of Luke

Of all the characters I’ve encountered in the many films at SF Indiefest, The Story of Luke is the one I hold nearest to my heart. The attachment you feel for Luke and his quest for love is inescapable, mostly due to Lou Taylor Pucci’s spot-on performance. The powerful message of acceptance and love The Story of Luke delivers is one that fit the spirit of SF Indiefest and the great city of San Francisco like a glove.

#8 The We and the I

Leading up to the opening night screening of Michel Gondry’s The We and the I, the thing I was most looking forward to was just how innovative Gondry would get with his camera in the super-enclosed space that is a city bus. Just how many interesting camera angles could he find? The answer? It doesn’t matter. Gondry does use his camera in interesting ways, but what makes this film special are the ever-changing dynamics of the loud-mouthed, quick-witted, unfiltered characters that occupy the bus.

#9 The Ghastly Love of Johnny X

Watching this film in 35mm at The Roxie was one of the cornerstones of my incredible SF Indiefest experience. Having the director, Paul Bunnell, and the cast there, the energetic crowd, the buttery popcorn, the technical difficulties; these things all added up to an unforgettable night at the movies, which is what SF Indiefest is all about.

#10 Funeral Kings

The ultra-vulgar kids in Funeral Kings remind me of myself as an awkward teenager. I chuckled at how much of myself I saw in these characters in their pursuit of attention, validation, and sex. To see them chase after girls and sneak around their parents’ houses in the middle of the night was like a blast from the past. Like I Declare War, Funeral Kings features some incredible performances by young actors. The attitude these kids exude is authentic, and nothing about their performances feels forced.

I arrived at the Roxie Theater on Saturday afternoon prepared for a huge day of films, and that’s exactly what my third day at SF Indiefest delivered. The first presentation of the day was a trio of shorts by newcomer Mary Helena Clark, paired with Desire Inc., a provocative short by Bay Area filmmaker Lynn Hershman. Next up, I shuffled over to the Roxie’s sister theater, Little Roxie, to watch Todd Looby’s charmingly honest Be Good. After filling my belly with delicious eats from the tapas place across the street (yum), I returned to the main Roxie theater to watch Quentin Dupieux’s playfully bizarre Wrong.
The night was capped off right around the corner from the Roxie at 518 Gallery with white Russians, mini-bowling, Dudes, Walters, and Jesuses, with SF Indiefest’s 10th annual Big Lebowski party, along with a 35mm screening of the film. The devoted Lebowski faithful came out in full force, and gathered to form a raucous orgy of Lebowski love. It was a memorable night that cemented for me that SF Indiefest is an absolute must-go event for any and all film enthusiasts.

The night was capped off right around the corner from the Roxie at 518 Gallery with white Russians, mini-bowling, Dudes, Walters, and Jesuses, with SF Indiefest’s 10th annual Big Lebowski party, along with a 35mm screening of the film. The devoted Lebowski faithful came out in full force, and gathered to form a raucous orgy of Lebowski love. It was a memorable night that cemented for me that SF Indiefest is an absolute must-go event for any and all film enthusiasts.

Three experimental shorts from Mary Helena Clark

Mary Helena Clark (who was in attendance) presented her experimental shorts And the Sun Flowers, Sound Over Water, and By Foot-Candle Light, all of which elicited long-forgotten memories and feelings from my childhood. Clark’s films linger on beautiful abstract images long enough for the hazy sights and sounds to transform in their meaning, cling to your mind, and become yours. Sound Over Water, the best of the trio, comforts with serene underwater images, while simultaneously creating a growing sense of claustrophobia.

And the Sun Flowers RATING: 6.8

Sound Over Water RATING: 8.9

By Foot-Canle Light RATING: 8

Desire Inc.

Experienced filmmaker Lynn Hershman (also in attendance) followed up with her thought-provoking look into technological fantasy Desire Inc. Filmed in 1985, before the internet had taken over the world, Hershman shares a set of ads she created and ran in the Bay Area, in which a seductive model urges viewers to call her. We are then shown footage of actual men who responded to the ads and the fascinating effects the ads had on their minds. It’s a deeply explorative work of art that contemplates the “phantom limb” we all utilize to reach into our television screens and interact with our most personal fantasies. When asked in the Q&A that followed the film if she would have made the film differently in the internet age, Hershman stressed that Desire Inc. and all films are portraits of their time and forever live just in that place.

RATING: 9.5

Be Good

Director Todd Looby’s Be Good follows independent filmmaker and stay-at-home dad Paul, his wife, Mary, who reluctantly returns to work but would much rather be at home with their newborn baby girl, Pearl. Paul wrestles with the reality that caring for the sleepless Pearl is stifling his filmmaking career, his friendships, and his marriage. Mary is frustrated with inhabiting the role of sole provider for the family and begins to resent Paul for not being able to contribute to the family financially and for being able to stay home with Pearl when she cannot. The rift between the couple grows as they use Pearl to escape one another, both emotionally and physically.

The situations Looby puts Paul and Mary in feel genuine, the pacing of the film hits the right rhythm, and Looby’s directing is tasteful. In scenes where Mary’s eye wanders to a male co-worker, Looby uses just the right amount of suggestion to where the situation doesn’t feel manufactured or contrived, but earnest and real. Neither parent is vilified, and their reactions to each other are completely understandable and believable thanks to sharp writing and two great performances. Thomas Madden and Amy Seimetz (as Paul and Mary, respectively) create a refined, naturalistic portrayal of a couple that is faced with the difficult juggling act that is parenthood.

Be Good is one of my favorite films of the festival so far. Looby is fair to his characters and treats them and their dilemma with respect. Their difficult situation is presented plainly and tastefully, and it’s clear that some of the scenes were plucked right out of Looby’s own life. He uses his own apartment, his own baby, and his own life experiences to inform the film, and what results is a deeply personal work. As a newlywed and future father, Be Good was a truly touching film.

RATING: 9.2

Wrong

Quentin Dupieux, director of the absurdist horror flick Rubber, delivers an equally nonsensical and wacky film with Wrong. We follow Dolph Springer, who wakes up to find that his beloved dog Paul is missing. In his search for his best friend, we are shown the wacky world Dolph lives in and the kooky eccentrics that inhabit it. As Dolph unravels the mystery behind Paul’s disappearance, his faith and connection with his pet are tested, and his problems begin to have damaging effects on the people surrounding him.

Dupieux’s film resembles a lighter, sillier version of a David Lynch dreamlike mind-bender, exchanging Lynch’s deep shadows and terror for bright, natural lighting and frivolous absurdity. Most of Wrong’s gags and wacky imagery are good for some laughs, but the effect comes and goes. We see things like a clock that strikes 7:60, a video of Paul’s shit’s memories (yep), and a man painting another man’s truck blue without permission. Unlike in Lynch’s films, none of the images stick and are soon forgotten, though they are fun in the moment.

What does stick are the great performances by the talented cast. Jack Plotnick plays Dolph with complete sincerity and dryness. While the film has a light, silly tone, Plotnick does a good job of reminding us of the true pain the absence of his Paul has caused Dolph. The rest of the cast do a good job as well, and deliver the dry dialogue with skillful comedic timing. William Fichtner is a standout as a spiritual guru who is an expert on making astral connections with other beings as is Regan Burns, who plays a jogger who will deny to the death that he is a jogger. Watching the characters’ hilarious conversations with each other is the main strength of the film. Wrong is a fun exercise in nonsensicality, but fails to resonate in any significant way.

RATING: 6.2