cine + octo = boo

for those of you just tuning in, back in March first-time director Mark Region dropped a puzzler on the world in the form of the trailer for his first feature film shot on 35mm titled After Last Season. what followed was months and months of speculation, second guessing, and utter confusion.

Trailer for After Last Season

everything about this film looks amateur — so much so, that it appears completely intentional. some have even speculated that the film is some sort of viral marketing campaign. for what? who knows. i’ve come across some claims that Spike Jonze is somehow behind this, and that it’s related to his upcoming film Where the Wild Things Are. i don’t see a connection, but i suppose anything is possible.

who is Mark Region? the name seems preposterous, although some have actually spoken to the man. other times actor Jason Kulas has stepped into the role of spokesperson. but why? is it the inconsistencies that plague the film’s origins? someone funded this, it cost $5 million (yes, THAT cost $5 mil), so what are the details here? Region claims this was his first opportunity to shoot on 35mm, but everything i’ve seen appears to look almost like video, not film.

when the trailer first dropped, the collective reaction was to question, “is this film real?” well yes. after all, the film began cropping up online in places like Apple Movie Trailers (of all places). it’s easy to fake some stuff, but to get placement here seems suspicious. the film’s official site looks intentionally dumpy. surely, with a budget of $5 million they could have spent some cash on the site itself. nope. instead we are given the web experience circa 1996, thank you very much. and don’t mistake that Kulas’ resume is hosted on GeoCities. something is certainly afoot. there have been a number of reviews cropping up, even interviews online, but the site only chooses to highlight the postings of Jason Coffman of Film Monthly [ed. note: the site has been updated and includes links to all of the major reviews and postings around the web]. in the Filmmaker Magazine interview, Region pointed to a group on facebook called I Believe in After Last Season.

to raise that other eyebrow, prints were even made for screenings in four markets in the US. yes. it actually screened. the cinemas were oddly placed, one in Lancaster, CA. those who really needed to know were greeted with more puzzles. sure, the film was real, but what was it about? how to explain it? these guys shot a reaction video in the parking lot, take a look:

there was some speculation that the original prints of the film had been destroyed after the screenings. other people claim to have dug prints out of the trash at the theaters where the film screened. whether or not there is any truth to those rumors, the official site has updated once again, this time with the news that a DVD will be made available directly from Region himself on September 30th. sounds like a candidate for the backyard movie club. anyone?