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SLACKJAW, 2015, 70 min.

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Director - Zach Weintraub

Camera - Nandan Rao

Producer/Sound - Bradley Smith

Original score by Ernesto Cárcamo Cavazos

Starring Rob Malone, Jesse Rudoy, and Blaise Hall

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A mildly absurd dramedic fable about the path to personal responsibility amidst the divisive fog of a politicized landscape.

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Rob Malone, like Nandan, is a friend of mine from film school. He helped on and appeared in my first movie (BUMMER SUMMER) and attended its festival premiere. At that film festival, Rob dislocated his jaw trying to get a look at his molars in the mirror. His mouth was stuck open and wouldn't shut. It was late at night and we had to go to the emergency room. This of course resulted in a sizable bill that took Rob several years to pay off.

A few years later, I wrote SLACKJAW for Rob to star in. It was initially inspired by the jaw incident, but had morphed into something very different by the time we shot it. I'd thought I wanted the movie to be "bigger" and plottier than what we'd done already, but was routinely foiled by my own instincts when writing. I would go so far as to say a dark cloud hung over the project during the days leading up to the shoot, as we hadn't quite settled on a lot of the details of the third act.

Of course, we're talking about moviemaking with a handful of my favorite friends in an apartment together in my hometown during summer. The good times were inevitable, and they're all on display in this movie - from the speedboating to the backyard barbeque, and the general abundance of cold ones.

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RELATED LINKS:

The original score by Ernesto (plus a clean recording of the ukulele song).

Dispatch from the Locarno Film Festival the day before the film's world premiere.

A review I'm fond of by James Kreul for the Madison Film Forum.

DUSTY AND STONES - a feature documentary in progress by Jesse about a country music duo from the African Kingdom of Swaziland.

A MORNING LIGHT - a film by Ian Clark, who plays Rob's friend with the bowl cut in this movie. A MORNING LIGHT was shot immediately after SLACKJAW and stars me.

Slowjams by BayBay LeRude - this is the freaking excellent song that Jahla Brown performs in the movie.

The County Liners - a country music project by Mary Jane Dunphe, who plays Blaise's mysterious friend, and Chris McDonnell, the owner and resident of the blue van from the movie.