Note: the film screening of Clearcut discussed at the end of this article comes with an invite to Indigenous attendees: you can claim free admission at the VIFF Centre on Sept. 26 and 28th, more on which below. Screening deets here!
To build on something I said on Facebook, I never directly interacted with Graham Greene, but I came close. The audio interview with Greene on the Severin Clearcut blu happened because the man who composed the soundtrack for that film, Shane Harvey, whom I had interviewed on Zoom for that disc, and who knew Greene, emailed me with Greene's phone number, telling me that he was down for an interview but that it had to happen ASAP ("it has to happen now!" may have been the exact phrase, in fact). When I got the email with Greene's number, I was, in fact, out of town with my wife's family, and we had some yet-larger family gathering planned that afternoon that required a trip to Victoria from the Cowichan Valley. They'd already facilitated my talking to Harvey via Zoom -- which is what you see on that disc extra, though they've edited his answers together, so you don't actually see me -- but we were practically getting our boots on when Shane's email hit: not the best time for an intimidating interview! Plus even if there had been time, the audio would have been shitty: with no way to internally record a phone call -- if there's an app that does that, I don't have it, which meant, given the tech available to me, I could only record it by turning on my cellphone speaker and using Zoom or some other external recording device, basically filming myself talking on the phone. This would have been maybe adequate for a written interview, assuming there were no dropouts, which can happen -- Zoom is not always great for recording off a speaker -- but even in the best case, it would very likely not have been good enough audio for an actual disc extra, which is what this was for. Not worth the risk, when it could possibly mean wasting Mr. Greene's time and blowing a one-shot opportunity.
I very quickly explained this to the person overseeing the extras, Kier-la Janisse, who actually DID have the tech set up to record an interview, tho' maybe was not expecting my "it has to be now! it has to be you!" email. I don't remember the full details, but we were looking at a near-zero-prep situation, and if I recall, she hadn't, at that point, even heard my full archival interview with the film's director, Ryszard Bugajski, which was fresh in my mind, as I had been prepping it just before the trip as an extra for the disc (the final version, made with the help of Dan Kibke, also appears on the blu as a commentary track). This meant I had a wealth of inside questions that she didn't, including some I thought it important for Greene to be allowed to answer, addressing things Bugajski had told me (both he and Greene were mildly critical of each other, suggesting they butted heads a little during the production). Bugajski in particular told one weird story in that interview involving a naked man running by a rehearsal room; what the hell was that, anyhow? I would have asked about that, if it had been me, but it was a slightly awkward question to try to frame, potentially goofy and embarrassing and, I mean, it's just a strange story.
There was also a question of whether Greene's character in the film was a responsible representation of Indigenous activism, which a Lakota fellow I knew had remarked on, wondering why Greene would take such a negative, horrifying role, making Indigenous activism and land rights the stuff of a horror movie. That's something Bugajski had also mentioned white liberal critics having said! You want to frame a question like that carefully, especially when it's based on second-or-third hand reports. And all the while, Harvey's "call him now" was flashing in neon over our heads; cut to: image of Graham Greene, tapping his toe patiently beside his phone, waiting for us to call him... we've already been dithering for half an hour... eek!
Fretting and plotting continued a bit longer, with Kier-la and I texting or emailing each other, and I vividly recall having my wife's parents, who were finding it all a bit odd, pull over on the roadside in front of the Duncan Tim Horton's, I think it was, so I could send Kier-la a few pressing questions. I wouldn't have blamed her if she hadn't used them -- they were awkward questions, which I myself would have been shy about framing, and they were *my* fucking questions, you know? I'm asking someone else to ask something I would have been nervous/ embarrassed to try to ask myself! Talk about doin' it to Julia! But that's what happened. I sent Kier-la the questions I had, and she rallied what questions she had, and she did the interview, while I was off at a social gathering with Erika's peeps, stuffin' my face with their food.
It's been a few years since the disc came out, and I have to confess: I only just checked out the extra so I could write this. Didn't even know until this week if she'd used the questions I sent, let alone what the answers were, until this past Wednesday. I was afraid to find out! What if he got pissed off at one of my questions? What if Greene didn't know what the fuck I was talking about, re: the mysterious naked man? If my texted-in questions bombed, it would have been a shameful thing for me, so I went full ostrich: I don't wanna know! It would almost be a relief if she skipped them altogether, I thought. Up until this evening, I hadn't built up the courage to find out how it went, though I've had the disc for a couple of years.
I'll let you check the extra yourself, if you have the blu-ray, to hear the answers, but suffice to say, I was delighted (and relieved) to finally hear the finished thing. Goddamn, Kier-la is good at what she does! She has her own questions, of course, but some of what she asks relates directly to my archival interview with Bugajski and the questions I sent her that day. You can hear her being somewhat ill-at-ease with the naked-man question, as I would have been, but it eventually does come up, and she bravely frames it and puts it to him quite convincingly. So I felt repped, and in a weird, indirect way, can say I have "sort of" had a conversation with Greene... still don't know who the mysterious naked man was, but at least he doesn't go, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"
So thanks, Kier-la, for trusting me on that and going out there on that limb. In a way, Greene is speaking indirectly to Bugajski -- we're both just facilitating that. I do recommend that people interested in any of this visit BOTH her interview with Greene and my interview with Bugajski, both on the disc. It's not remotely like anything else I have been involved in. My blog, my writing, it all takes a backseat to my involvement on this blu. Actually, that blu has a ton of stuff from me, as extras -- Kier-la even gave me a co-producer credit on a couple of them, which is the only time you'll see me in that role! Plus there are extras from Kevin Howes, too, so if you are a fan of his, or Greene's, or want to hear my voice, pre-tongue-cancer -- I had not had any surgeries at all when I talked to Bugajski -- I heartily recommend it.
And now Graham Greene is gone. I think I would have liked him, had I met him. I suppose I thought that maybe Shane would introduce us someday when he was in Vancouver, and I'd swallow my panic and try to be cool, though I think I probably would have been a stammering dork, had that ever come to pass. I mean, how do you even make small talk with a guy that accomplished? So what was acting in a Die Hard movie like? Any Sam Shepard stories from Thunderheart? (Plus he's Indigenous, which adds an extra layer of nerves to the prospect, an extra level of opportunities to ram my foot into my mouth...).
I have heard it said that the role of Arthur in Clearcut was Greene's favourite-ever film role, which he does seem to go along with in the audio interview... he clearly was also invested in the spiritual angle of the film, and suggests that there was an element of Indigenous authorship to the movie, an on-set rewriting of the script to push that element forward.
Considering all that, in fact, as Shane Harvey also feels, it's a bit of a scandal that the film is not being mentioned in the obits I'm reading. I think people are still scared of this film. But it's also one of my favourite films, of Greene's or otherwise; the film I have the most history with (these will be the fifth and sixth public screenings I've been involved with, though the first one was off a German DVD and the second one ended up cancelled due to COVID!). Certainly there is no film out there that skewers white liberal hypocrisy, when it comes to Indigenous peoples, quite so pointedly or accurately.
And here's the real news: if you're local in Vancouver -- or if you prefer your movies projected on the big screen -- there will be TWO screenings of Clearcut at the VIFF Centre later this month, both in the main theatre, on Friday, September 26th, at 6:30, and Sunday, September 28th, at 4:20. Highly recommend your attendance! It does have a couple of scenes of torture (AKA "debarking") -- it's a pretty angry film -- but there's nothing out there quite like it, and Greene's performance truly is a career-best.
Fretting and plotting continued a bit longer, with Kier-la and I texting or emailing each other, and I vividly recall having my wife's parents, who were finding it all a bit odd, pull over on the roadside in front of the Duncan Tim Horton's, I think it was, so I could send Kier-la a few pressing questions. I wouldn't have blamed her if she hadn't used them -- they were awkward questions, which I myself would have been shy about framing, and they were *my* fucking questions, you know? I'm asking someone else to ask something I would have been nervous/ embarrassed to try to ask myself! Talk about doin' it to Julia! But that's what happened. I sent Kier-la the questions I had, and she rallied what questions she had, and she did the interview, while I was off at a social gathering with Erika's peeps, stuffin' my face with their food.
It's been a few years since the disc came out, and I have to confess: I only just checked out the extra so I could write this. Didn't even know until this week if she'd used the questions I sent, let alone what the answers were, until this past Wednesday. I was afraid to find out! What if he got pissed off at one of my questions? What if Greene didn't know what the fuck I was talking about, re: the mysterious naked man? If my texted-in questions bombed, it would have been a shameful thing for me, so I went full ostrich: I don't wanna know! It would almost be a relief if she skipped them altogether, I thought. Up until this evening, I hadn't built up the courage to find out how it went, though I've had the disc for a couple of years.
I'll let you check the extra yourself, if you have the blu-ray, to hear the answers, but suffice to say, I was delighted (and relieved) to finally hear the finished thing. Goddamn, Kier-la is good at what she does! She has her own questions, of course, but some of what she asks relates directly to my archival interview with Bugajski and the questions I sent her that day. You can hear her being somewhat ill-at-ease with the naked-man question, as I would have been, but it eventually does come up, and she bravely frames it and puts it to him quite convincingly. So I felt repped, and in a weird, indirect way, can say I have "sort of" had a conversation with Greene... still don't know who the mysterious naked man was, but at least he doesn't go, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"
So thanks, Kier-la, for trusting me on that and going out there on that limb. In a way, Greene is speaking indirectly to Bugajski -- we're both just facilitating that. I do recommend that people interested in any of this visit BOTH her interview with Greene and my interview with Bugajski, both on the disc. It's not remotely like anything else I have been involved in. My blog, my writing, it all takes a backseat to my involvement on this blu. Actually, that blu has a ton of stuff from me, as extras -- Kier-la even gave me a co-producer credit on a couple of them, which is the only time you'll see me in that role! Plus there are extras from Kevin Howes, too, so if you are a fan of his, or Greene's, or want to hear my voice, pre-tongue-cancer -- I had not had any surgeries at all when I talked to Bugajski -- I heartily recommend it.
And now Graham Greene is gone. I think I would have liked him, had I met him. I suppose I thought that maybe Shane would introduce us someday when he was in Vancouver, and I'd swallow my panic and try to be cool, though I think I probably would have been a stammering dork, had that ever come to pass. I mean, how do you even make small talk with a guy that accomplished? So what was acting in a Die Hard movie like? Any Sam Shepard stories from Thunderheart? (Plus he's Indigenous, which adds an extra layer of nerves to the prospect, an extra level of opportunities to ram my foot into my mouth...).
I have heard it said that the role of Arthur in Clearcut was Greene's favourite-ever film role, which he does seem to go along with in the audio interview... he clearly was also invested in the spiritual angle of the film, and suggests that there was an element of Indigenous authorship to the movie, an on-set rewriting of the script to push that element forward.
Considering all that, in fact, as Shane Harvey also feels, it's a bit of a scandal that the film is not being mentioned in the obits I'm reading. I think people are still scared of this film. But it's also one of my favourite films, of Greene's or otherwise; the film I have the most history with (these will be the fifth and sixth public screenings I've been involved with, though the first one was off a German DVD and the second one ended up cancelled due to COVID!). Certainly there is no film out there that skewers white liberal hypocrisy, when it comes to Indigenous peoples, quite so pointedly or accurately.
And here's the real news: if you're local in Vancouver -- or if you prefer your movies projected on the big screen -- there will be TWO screenings of Clearcut at the VIFF Centre later this month, both in the main theatre, on Friday, September 26th, at 6:30, and Sunday, September 28th, at 4:20. Highly recommend your attendance! It does have a couple of scenes of torture (AKA "debarking") -- it's a pretty angry film -- but there's nothing out there quite like it, and Greene's performance truly is a career-best.
Read the contemporary, Indigenous Ironbow review of the film, provided me by Ryszard, here. Excerpt:
Just like the justice system cannot give us justice, or violence cannot give us understanding, or wishy-washy liberal ideals cannot give us the reality of our every day lives - the film offers no heroes or bad guys for the audience to love or hate. This is exactly what makes it so appealing - the film grinds away at people's docile comfort in their belief that everything will turn out OK. That everything is somehow being taken care of and that solutions are in the ability to conform with the status quo. The audience is used to leaving the theatre with the problems resolved and their comfort restored.
Clearcut lets them leave with a lot of questions and hardly any answers.
And note, again, that Indigenous peoples can get free admission to these screenings. Shane and myself will be in attendance, we think for both days; there will be an opportunity for a Q&A. And Severin Films and VIFF will be donating 50 percent of box office to an Indigenous or environmental charity; deets as to which to be confirmed.
Links here! Thanks to Tom Charity for programming this so rapidly (he initiated it, not me, note; it's a very pleasant surprise). Again, Indigenous-identifying patrons (age 19+) can see the film free!
RIP, Graham Greene!
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