 |
| We Strangers |
One of the highlights of this year’s South By Southwest, Anu Valia’s We Strangers follows Ray (Kirby), a cleaner whose life changes abruptly as a result of an impulsive lie. When she tells one of her wealthy white employers that she can see into the spirit world, she suddenly finds herself in a position of power, which changes the way that she looks at the world and the life she has been living. I was delighted to get the opportunity to talk to Anu, and although she was a little guarded, not wanting to say anything that might restrict viewer’s freedom to make up their own minds about the film, we still found a lot to discuss.
Ray, she suggests, is not just the lead character in the film, but is a person who perceives herself very much as the lead character in her own story, always determined to exercise power. “I love that her decision is so clear,” she says. “She isn't just rolling with it. She knows what she wants, what she enjoys. Well, she's going to keep rolling with it for various reasons, but that, to me, is how humans are.
“People are very unpredictable with how they're treating her because they're not thinking about her at all. They're not caring for her. They're existing in their own lives and she is there just to be background and she decides to take power. I want that to feel good for people because it's something I wish I could do. And then even though that can feel good, it also puts a strain on her life and her relationship and her sense of self, I think. If you become a master at the rules of someone else's game, that can feel good for a while, but what does it take from you?”
Ray has a touch of glamour about her from the outset – she’s not the cowed, subservient sort of person whom Hollywood has taught us to expect in that role.
“She's just a full, complete person. I think, ‘Why shouldn't she be wearing makeup?’ Sometimes she's wearing makeup, sometimes she's not. She looks good. She's got her earrings in. Why wouldn't she? Being a cleaner is a beautiful job, and it also makes you an observer. You're always observing and learning about people. But Ray is not passive, she’s a very active character. And so even if there was an expectation to dress her down, her character should look good because she wants to look good in the world. That people expect you to be a certain way, that is maybe a Hollywood expectation that is not realistic.”
She didn’t want to make any of the characters too monstrous or one-sided, she says. “I think then an audience ultimately tunes out to the subtleties of the film and the actual exploration that's happening.”
There’s a moment in the film when Ray arrives at a house where she’s about to work and there’s a giant US flag on the lawn. I mention that, as someone from outside that country, I always feel uneasy when I encounter that type of display.
“I just want that to feel realistic. I think that subtle discomfort you're feeling, it's definitely a feeling I've experienced a lot. Again, my experience in the world is definitely different than Ray’s. There's a lot of me in Ray, but I also had to other people to try to hopefully tell me what her journey through the world as a Black woman is like.
“In that scene in particular, what I feel is that although Ed others Ray, he was trying to connect with her too. And the way he knows to connect is to other another person. So then he was talking about this Indian man and he was trying to connect, and of course Ray can feel what's going on. It still makes her uncomfortable, but it's happening through a person who's genuinely trying to connect with her. And that, to me, is much more interesting than someone who's just openly, actively making someone uncomfortable. Because I also think that definitely happens a lot, but I don't know if I need to put that on film because what am I exploring? It's much more interesting to explore something that's more subtle.”
The way that the white women’s attitudes to Ray change when they believe that she can see spirits is the source of a lot of the comedy in the film. Of course, it’s rooted in racism too.
“Yeah, even that is very much playing with a trope. And these women believing her immediately says a lot about them.”
She seems like the most exciting thing in their lives a lot of the time, I suggest, and Anu laughs. We move on to talk about the elegant staging in the film.
“We shot everything on location in this film. We didn't have any sets. This is the first film I've written and directed – everything else that I've written and directed has been a short film. So this is the first time I really feel, in a long form, I've been able to express how I think and move through the world. The TV work I've done, I learned a lot and I've met some incredible people, but I'm not thinking about any of that when I'm making this piece of art. Whatever script is in front of you, you dive in head first and you're thinking about nothing else. I definitely have been influenced by the TV work I've done, but I can't say I'm actively thinking about anything besides the movie.”
There’s some creative use of colour when Ray has her ‘visions’.
“Yeah. I was playing out some expressionism there, because, again, that's what cinema can do. You can use all these tools at your disposal to try to create. I was very influenced by Agnès Varda in the use of colours. And James [Codoyannis], my editor, and I are huge fans of her. But there's so much that I feel like if I dove into it, I would ruin the film that I worked so hard to make.”
We move on to talk about her star.
“Kirby is such a joy to work with her,” she says. “She is such a true soul sister. Our souls are so connected in how we see the world, what we are in search of, what we're preoccupied by. I learn from her, and I feel like an open vessel around her. And when I wrote this film, and I was looking for the lead, we have the same manager, funnily enough, and he kept telling me about her. After our first meeting, I just remember thinking ‘You could have written the script.’ She knew exactly what this film was and every layer, she understood. So from there, it just felt like, ‘Oh, I've met my soulmate, and off we go to make this movie together.’”
Does Anu have more filmmaking ambitions now?
“Oh yeah. It is such a specific art form. There's so many more things I want to know. This is a film that explores a lot, but is so entrenched in identity, community, assimilating, and this specific area in the Midwest where I grew up – that's kind of what this film is exploring. And then as I continue to grow older and have other experiences, I’ll have other preoccupations and other things I want to explore. That's what's beautiful about this medium.”
So how does she feel about the film being at South by Southwest?
“It's amazing. It's a real honour. You make something, especially your first film, on a small budget, and you're not sure people are going to see it, so to première it at such an incredible festival...” She trails off, clearly a little overwhelmed. “I played my short here, Lucia Before And After, seven years ago. So to come back seven years later with my first film is really a dream.”
