Diane Wiest’s dynamic performance redeems the unnecessary dose of depression this simple drama spoon feeds. Well, almost.
Suffering, loss and a perpetual struggle to keep on going; such facets greatly inhabit Maris Curran’s deput film, Five Nights in Maine.
Lead actor, David Oyelowo (the voice of the King himself in historical-drama film Selma) takes charge in this new feature, and brings with his performance a distinctive take on anguish – as Five Nights in Maine explores the grieving throes of a widowed husband. The film addresses this matter among others. And as it progresses, the film adopts a guise of self-realization while continuing to harbor a darker and more solemn tenure. It’s befitting for a tragic tale.
Oyelowo, along with director Curran and fellow actor Rosie Perez, gave their input on the complexities beyond the picture – including the film’s initial planning and the painful, emotional process from beginning to end at a NY Film Critics National Series Premiere.
No fear from you, with women directors?
Oyelowo: No, no, no – of course not. I’ve been a huge beneficiary of the brilliant talents of female directors. In fact, I had a run of four female directors in a row. Which was just amazing for me. After I did Selma with Ava DuVernay, I did Five Nights in Maine with Maris, then I did Queen of Katwe with Mira Nair; and then I did A United Kingdom with Amma Asante. So, you know – to board brilliant film-makers – forget the female part; it’s just fantastically talented artists that have brought out of me things I didn’t know were in me.
David, Is Lucinda racist or did she just not want her daughter to get married, and especially to a man of color?
Oyelowo: I love these questions. Is she racist? I think that there is this gray line between abject racism and cultural bias. And I think we’re dealing with a lot of that in this country and in America, actually. This cultural bias, I think, is due to a fear of that you don’t know – and therefore don’t understand and so therefore incites fear. My character is a black man from Atlanta whose married Diane’s character’s daughter and they’re, you know, Diane and her daughter are estranged. And I’ve never met my mother-in-law. And the only thing we have in common is arguably the biggest thing in both our lives. So we are complete separate; complete unlike each-other but have this thing in common. So, when we are suddenly in this house in Maine, for five days, what you’re dealing with is two people navigating their differences. So, I wouldn’t say that she’s racist, I would say she’s a human being. You know, we fear and react in certain ways to things we don’t understand until we understand them. And I think with what happens through the course of the film is a degree of understanding that leads to – I hope – a cathartic level of healing that these people can begin from the bases of just getting to know each-other equally even though it’s very, very fractious, acrimonious, and painful.
If there were moments, that you had as Sherwin in this movie that resonates for you personally? That just connects with you?
Oyelowo: Yeah, I think there’s a moment in the film where my character says “she took so much with her” – and I remember doing that line in that take that was used in the movie and I think that’s the moment where I felt most the blur between the character and myself. You know, the thought – the hideous thought – of my wife no longer walking the planet – she would take a massive chunk of everything that I am. And so, it would be irreplaceable. And so, for me, that line goes to the heart of what makes it so tough; that you know that your life will never be the same again. And so, that to me – you’re always looking for the kernel of truth – I am, anyway, when I do a movie, and I think some time in that moment and in that line, is what I think Sherwin is going through.
From director Maris Curran and actor Rosie Perez:
This is your first feature. Where did it come from?
Curran: So, to begin, I’m a writer and director. I started with the writing – and I began to write it as my marriage was falling apart. So, it’s a piece of fiction. And I think that, both as a writer and as a director, it’s very important that you’re working with a specific and emotional issue such as this. And at that moment, I was facing a series of questions. Questions that Sherwin also faces in this film. Questions that begin with what to do when the floor falls from under you? What happens when your idea of your future family dissipates in an instant. What happens when your idea about yourself changes? And from there that’s – that was really the offering that my life gave to this film – and that I also gave to the actors. As a director, it’s saying because this is a moment; it’s a moment I know, it’s a moment that we could jump-off from.
You dealt with grief, trauma – all of those things in your life. It’s how you come out on the other side of it. Was that way this appealed to you in particular?
Perez: Well, in part yes. You know, when you’re referring to my book, you’re referring to my childhood and how I kept going. And, me moving forward was the worst thing and the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Because moving forward made me motivated and successful. But moving so quickly and so fast – I crushed. You know, life has a way of just telling you to sit down and with this film I related to it strongly because I had a serious injury – I broke my neck in 2009. And it made me just stop. And, you know, at a height of success, and you can’t move – it’s just a strange feeling of having to rely on others. It’s really tough and it reminded me of when my father was passing there was this home attendant he had – and she would come to our house in Puerto Rico and be there for 10 hours a day and became part of the family yet she was separate. She kept her distance. And with these film – I read the script – I told Maris that “oh my gosh, this is just a beautiful homage to care-takers”; to people that allow their patients to grieve. And I told her, I said “I’m gonna be the professional that has the strength to walk on egg shells.” And that’s how I approached it, because that’s how the caretakers took care of me, and took care of my family. Yeah, so – it was pretty intense. I had agreed with Maris on just what happens when the floor falls out from under you. It’s how you react and what I’ve learned in my life – this film actually gave me a lot of comfort because I didn’t know how to grieve. I thought it was supposed to be dramatic like a Puerto Rican does. You know, but my really good friends are here with me and they saw me grieve and it was just, actually, really, really quiet. And then they would have these intense moments that you just feel like you were part of – And I feel like this film validated my grieving process. That – “it was mine” – I didn’t have to grieve the way I did, but I grieved the way I was supposed to grieve.
The subtleties and quiet spaces of the film are very brave and powerful, how much of it was scripted versus spontaneous?
Perez: It was written and specific. Maris has a very, very clear vision. There wasn’t an ad-lib that I know of – if there was, it was minimal. And I think that it was very, very intentional. Even when he (David Oyelowo’s character) asks for a drink, and I’m running around because I don’t know this person and he’s entered this space and I feel awkward; and I’m trying to say the right things – but what most people do is stumble and fumble. Even his response – his quiet response to that and the quietness between us was intentional and I thought it played really, really well. And without her saying that to us, we understood that on the written page. So, in her direction, it wasn’t heavy-handed but yet it was specifically guided, if that makes sense.
Curran: This is about trusting and collaborating. And, even that moment where, you know, where Rosie was saying “this is the way I need to do it now” – and it’s like, well, there’s a reason why Rosie and I are working together. I mean, what she brings is the reason I want her there. She brings intellect, talent – she brings, you know, all of the things that had happened to her up until that moment. And I trust Rosie. And so yes, there is also that sense of “I trust you with these words and I trust you with this film – and yes, please bring more.”
We were wondering about what Sherwin did for a living and how he managed to leave of absence?
Curran: They were watching. Well, he’s an engineer. And, yeah.
Five Nights in Maine will be released to theatres on August 5th.
The 2016 Athena Film Festival occurred this past weekend where male and female filmmakers alike came together to showcase their work, all featuring female protagonists. In a world where women tend not to have the same kind of rights that men do, the film festival hopes to awaken women filmmakers to pursue their dreams in Hollywood and in the film industry, which is one of the most male dominated industries that anyone can go into.
Founded six years ago by Kathryn Kolbert and Melissa Silverstein, the festival has come to feature the films of countless women leaders, and has even started the Leading Man Award, which was given to Paul Feig for his accomplishments in promoting female characters in his films. Not only did the festival screen films, but it also held certain events, like a workshop in collaboration with the Blacklist, in which women screenwriters worked on getting their scripts made.
The festival was a woman-made, women-packed celebration, and to further celebrate that, here are some interviews we’ve had with the founders, as well as honorees Geralyn Dreyfous and Mira Nair.
Kathryn Kolbert:
What was the thinking behind getting the festival started six years ago?
So the Athena Film Festival has one simple goal, which is to change what leadership looks like. So that when you close your eyes and when you think leadership, you’ll conjure up an image of strong, influential, powerful women.
You also are the director of Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership, so how was that experience useful in creating this vision?
Clearly our goal at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard is to ensure that more women rise to leadership across all sectors of society and one of the ways that we can cultivate change is to change how culture sees leadership, and that’s the point of the film festival.
And do you believe that the festival has helped women leaders through filmmaking and showing films?
Absolutely, this is our sixth year and we’re showing fabulous films; each one of whom has a woman in a leadership role, is a protagonist in a story. You spend a weekend here with us and you will see leadership in a different way.
This year marks the first ever Athena’s Leading Man award, given to Paul Feig. How did you choose to award him and come up with the award in the first place?
Well Paul Feig is the recipient of our first Leading Man award. We have always believed that men and women need to work together to cultivate change, and so part of the festival we show films that are made by both men and women as long as women are the central aspect of the story. Creating the Leading Man award is part of the continuation of that same theory and we’re thrilled to honor Paul: he is a trailblazer, he has created a whole genre of films in which women are very, very, very funny and we are thrilled to honor him. He will be here at the festival tomorrow with Kate McKinnon from Saturday Night Live and it’ll be a fabulous event and we encourage people to come.
Melissa Silverstein:
What was the thinking behind founding the festival six years ago?
We just want to show women leaders on screen and work as hard as we can to show as many women as we can behind the scenes. The whole objective is to create inspiration as well as aspiration for young women and men to see the world as it should be: 50/50.
Have you seen women filmmakers rise to the challenge and showcase their work?
I don’t think women have to prove anything. They are competent, they are trained, they are ready to go. I think the world needs to wake up and pay attention to the fact that they are there and to treat them with respect that they deserve. When a man and a woman are trained equally and the man is looked at as more competent than she is, is just unacceptable, it’s just sexism.
How do you see this festival combating that?
Well the festival is like an intervention in a variety of different levels. We have a lab that was started this year in partnership with the Blacklist for screenwriters that are working on a screenplay that has a female protagonist in it and they just completed two days of workshops. And we also have the Athena List, which is two days of scripts that get to be filmed with female protagonists. And everything you see on screen, the whole weekend—it is basically the antithesis to Hollywood, it’s all about women.
Paul Feig is the first recipient of the Athena Leading Man award, so how was it like choosing him?
Well when you look at Paul Feig’s body of work, he highlights and celebrates women. And he has been doing it before it was sexy and cool. And so what he exemplifies is exactly what we want in the world. He recognizes women on screen are funny, are sexy, are awesome.
Geralyn Dreyfous:
As a well accomplished producer, how does it feel like attending the festival and offering insight to aspiring female producers and filmmakers?
Well you know it’s thrilling. It’s a great time to be in documentary filmmaking. I also do some feature filmmaking but the non-fiction is the place that I really love the most. And there’s some extraordinary women directors and producers and talent in that field and sort of just to watch that community keep growing and how we really support one another and support each other’s stories; it’s just a great story.
And how do you feel the Athena Film Festival is helping women filmmakers achieve their dreams?
Well I think it’s really cool that a school like Barnard College that was founded with such a deep tradition of supporting women hosts a festival like this and give women a platform that they can be taken seriously and engage with students and next generation leaders but also be in the culture capital of the world and the media capital of the world in New York City so it’s great a combination. I just think that stories really matter and telling them is the way we crack the world open and reinvent it and just to have people to support these films as audience members and philanthropy. Just supporting it by connecting to the stories and having conversations about it.
Mira Nair:
How is it like to be honored by the festival?
They’re killing me softly baby. No I’m really happy to be here and honored to be part of a festival that promotes leadership in women because that’s what we are. And what I do is speak softly and carry a big stick, so I’m very happy to be part of a festival that honors that.
And what are your thoughts on the festival promoting women leaders and filmmakers?
There is nothing greater inspired than someone before you who has sweated the struggle and seen the life of the other side and that’s what festivals like this do. They bring us people who have done this and we celebrate their work and we can hopefully see ourselves in them to do that kind of thing—or more. So that’s why
Your career spans combining South East Asian culture with American filmmaking, so have you found any overlap with the cultures?
Well I have always made my own films whether they are independently made or studio, but they are always with my voice. And my voice is distinctly Indian/African: a world view that is not primarily within America but outside America as well. So it’s a unique to be, to be at home here and to be able to tell American stories but also what really inspires me are stories of people like us who are rarely on screen but have universal stories to tell. So Monsoon Wedding is a story about the madness around my own dining table at home in New Delhi but it became a massive worldwide hit because everybody saw their own selves and their families in it. So that kind of idea of making work that is specifically local and truthful but because of its specificity and its treatment, becomes universal, is what I love to do.
You also have a bridge program for Ugandan students, Maisha, to learn about filmmaking.
Yes, Maisha: it’s a film school now for 11 years that works in the four countries of Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and we have now trained more than 650 filmmakers. And that is the point because the slogan of Maisha is one of my great philosophies which is “If we don’t tell our own stories, no one else will.” So this is a way for Africans to tell their stories and in the process of it, I have made my own stories there, the Queen of Katwe, which is a new film.
Oh! Tell us more.
It’s a Disney film, there will be a clip of it tonight, and it’s with Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo and it’s releasing all over the world in September.
On May 28, HBO hosted a special screening at ArtBeam of the riveting movie “Nightingale.”
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