Viewer Comments for STRAY
Audience Member
2005 Oaxaca MX Show
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I liked it and I couldn't like it. You know what I mean?
Maria Rosa Astorga
2005 Oaxaca MX Show
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Are you afraid of having your daughter grow up to kill you?
Audience Member
2005 Oaxaca MX Show
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You are my Jean Luc Godard.
Kenneth White, Assistant to the Director
2004 Syracuse International Film and Video Festival
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I greatly enjoyed your film, STRAY, this past weekend, and it was a pleasure
to meet you in person. I hope you had fun during the rest of the festival!
Peter Wollen, Judge
2004 Syracuse International Film and Video Festival
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Words of wisdom? Fresh out of words of wisdom. [long pause] Oh, I do have some. Keep at it. It can only get better.
Mindy Benson, Juror
2004 Cleveland International Film Festival
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Hauntingly beautiful and does a good job of creating an eerie mood. David Lynch watch out!
Phil Zach
Film Forum, Cornell University Show, 21 NOV 2003
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Very nice film, man. A very sensual experience, if I may say so. I liked the music, the visuals, and the writing very much. I won't pretend I know what it all was supposed to mean, but I was strangely attracted nonetheless, and I am notoriously restless as an audience member. I was very engaged for the whole film.
I thought the opening credits went on a bit long, and may have detracted from getting into the story.
I was also surprised (and pretty impressed with myself) at how much my stuff was used and how effective it was. Which is not to say I was totally pleased with my work - I heard things I have to work on, definitely. But did you hear how the 'good lord dont talk to me about hardship' bit produced a resonance with (primarily female) audience members? Just like I said before, that was some fine writing.
All in all, thanks for the opportunity. I am definitely proud to have contributed my bit.
Phil
Phil Zach plays the voice of Dorman Watley in STRAY.
Taiya J Luce
Film Forum, Cornell University Show, 21 NOV 2003
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Mr. Richardson,
I was honored to attend the showing of your movie Friday night. I liked the use of the computer (making the video cartoonish), but I can't quite put my mind on why exactly. The young girl was superbly dark, which every adult can empathize with having been children ourselves, who know too much too fast (or having children of our own, as you said). Needless to say I have been thinking about the movie for the past few days. I will say I was disturbed, but so wrapped up in the each moment I didn't have time to think about it. This is good because I tend over analyze, but instead I was forced into your vision. Disturbing is good, because often what is disturbing forces us into another perspective, creates a rift in "reality" and thought processes.
Johnny Dowd's music multiplied the quality of the film's content. Hank Roberts would not have achieved the same effect. Funny how choices fail and fate steps in?
There are a few of my thoughts, and I'll leave it at that since I'm sure you are busy.
Thank you, Taiya
Yo Taiya:
I am honored that you came and that you spent so much of your own energy to engage and enjoy the film. I am so happy that you found the time to write me on the topic, and if you have more to say I would love to hear it.
Thank you, TR (NOV 2003)
Taiya J Luce
Film Forum, Cornell University Show, 21 NOV 2003
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Thomas,
Well, I can say more, but of course it is my own speculation. I assume you used the blurry black and white while showing the traveling man to suggest his blurred vision of the world, the blurred perspective of wanting to belive but perhaps losing faith and your mind in the process--which seems to run through the entire film. But i could be assuming too much.
Allow me to assume more.
The girl is clearly disturbed, caught between emotion and the reality she has been slapped with. Your analogy of Abraham and Isaac made perfect sense, and I remember being obsessed with story as a child too. I think every child feels like he/she has been sacrificed in some way by a parent. Mom doesn't physically stick her finger in her child's wound, but in a sense she does so repeatedly. (By the way, that was really gross, Thomas! But a great metaphor on so many different levels.)
I am curious if these ideas of mine were what you intended. Where does the ghost of father fit in? Was he an instigator or a mere catalyst for the tragedy? For instance, when the young girl holds out her hand and says, "Daddy hurt me," she has a physical imprint of the wound. Was that more than metaphor? Doesn't really matter, I liked it either way.
I loved the visual effects and the play on blurred lines and contrasts. What you skimped on in dialogue you certainly made up for in images. That was great!
In your mind what the connection between these three people? Abandonment? Pain? Uncertainty? Psychological or Spiritual? I realize the answer could be all of the above!
Thanks again. Taiya
Have any comments of your own? Send them to TR@silicongorge.com. Please include where you saw the film and when.