Behind the scenes of ‘The Bride’ with John Biscello
HBrooklyn, but writer, poet, performer and playwright, John Biscello, has lived in Taos since 2001 and is as covered in High Desert dust as the rest of us.
He is the author of four acclaimed novels, “Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale,” “Raking the Dust,” “Nocturne Variations” and “No Man’s Brooklyn,” plus a collection of stories, “Freeze Tag,” two poetry collections, “Arclight” and “Moonglow on Mercy Street,” and a fable, “The Jackdaw and the Doll,” illustrated
by Izumi Yokoyama.
He also adapted classic fables, which were paired with the vintage illustrations of the artist, Paul Bransom, for the collection: “Once Upon a Time, Classic Fables Reimagined.” His produced, fulllength plays include: “Lobsters on Ice, “Adagia For Strays,” “The Best Medicine,” “Zeitgeist, U.S.A.” and “Werewolves Don’t Waltz.”
He cites a list of literary greats from Henry Miller to Samuel Beckett as influences, but in the end, it’s down to his singular turn of phrase that takes on popular culture like a bird of prey; ripping it apart from the inside out, bending and twisting genres and gender as he spins his impossibly gripping yarns.
Now, the aspiring auteur is kneedeep into his latest venture, “The Bride.” We gave you a sneak peek a couple of weeks ago, but we decided to take a deeper dive now that the project is seriously underway.
Please tell us a bit about “The Bride.”
I was contacted by a writer and poet, Jaylan Salman, who lives in Alexandria, Egypt. She had an idea for a short film, based on a poem she wrote, “You can’t dress me up, Auntie A,” which was written to express the hurt, anger and humiliation she felt when a female relative of hers saw her as a failure because she wasn’t married.
Jaylan wanted to see if I might be interested in collaborating on this project and directing the film. After a creatively stimulated Zoom chat, I wrote a script, which I sent to her. She was very moved and excited by both the script and what we were envisioning, and from there, things snowballed rather quickly, and serendipitously, with Izumi Yokoyama agreeing to play the title role, and Troy Paff stepping in as the cinematographer.
The film itself is stark, minimalist, a single character in a non-descript liminal space, somewhat created in a vacuum of sublime and heightened intimacy. It both directly and indirectly raises questions or generates challenges to the idea of the relationship between perceiving and being the object of perception, what happens when the mirror you are staring into is also staring into you, and how these elements marry into identity, image, sense of self, as formed or conformed to conditions rooted in family, society, media, static traditions, etc.
Why this foray into film, and why now?
I’ve long been a cinefile and lover and appreciator of film. It was a medium that I knew I would want to explore and become a part of, however, that would come about (I was imagining as a screenwriter), and something that really excited and inspired me, was the back story of pioneers of the French new wave, specifically Godot and Truffaut, who were not film-makers, but adored and cherished cinema, writing pieces for the French film magazine, Cahiers du Cinéma, and cannibalizing films at the legendary Cinematheque Francaise, and their all-consuming passion compelled them to make films in their own rogue and idiosyncratic way.
Amazingly, I think that sort of doit-yourself quality of creation is very much a vital heartbeat here in Taos. It is the mule-stubborn, fierce and enduring bloom of grassroots, rooted in the nature of collaboration. If you align with the right co-conspirators, if vision syncs up with shared discipline, oh the places you’ll go! And the generous spirit of community is very much a major part of these projects. For example, when we put the word out that we were looking for a wedding dress, people came forward immediately with offers and suggestions, and the one which was eventually donated to our cause is a beauty.
Now, to answer your question from a different angle: Several years ago I set myself the goal of writing short film scripts, anywhere from two to 20 pages, and I experimented with this form over a few months. After that, I moved into adapting some of my novels and plays into full-length scripts. I was learning and rehearsing the form, playing around with it. I always try to remind
myself in whatever creative venture I am undertaking that it is ALL just an experiment and exploration, one that is never-ending and remains, for me, fueled by child-like curiosity. I mean, we’re making a film with zero budget. There are always more cliffs for a fool to dive from!
The movie, as you mentioned, features Izumi Yokoyama — please talk about her role. Izumi plays the titular character in the film, which, in essence, is a visual aria or cryptic ritual. Almost no words. Izumi soloing in the void. She possesses such a natural presence, and this wonderful elastic range of moods and expressions ... there is a beautiful quality of conjuring at play. When Izumi first heard the story, then read the script, she felt a kinship with “the bride” (who I think, as an archetype, brings multiple levels of relatability, depending on one’s story or past, specifically, though not expressly, for women), and Jaylan was brought to tears when getting to “know” Izumi as the bride, through film stills and photos.
From creepy to sweet to wrathful to paranoid, Izumi gets to “dislocate” and find herself in this film in subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle ways. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how fantastic it is that we have Troy Paff as our cinematographer, as he brings years and years of experience in film and television to the project, along with a savvy technical eye. We lean on his wisdom, and I learn so much whenever I get to work with him, and value his cinematic acumen. Right before the pandemic did its whole derailment thing in 2020, we were about to shoot our first film together, “Ballad of the Cuckoos,” but that project went on the back-burner. We’ve rebooted and hope to shoot Cuckoos sooner than later, perhaps as our next project.
What filmmakers are you inspired by? Oh, boy, there are oh so many. But to keep it simple, I’ll give you my top six, my “golden ticket” crowd: David Lynch, Agnes Varda, Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman, Hong Sangsoo and Yasujiro Ozu. I just recently discovered Abbas Kiarostami, through a friend’s recommendation, and man-o-man, I dove into all of his work that I could find and absolutely savored his vision and sensibility.
Where is the filming taking place? We have our film shoot location, which is the old Shree Yoga studio! It’s now called This Must Be the Space, run by a woman, Alison Beckner, who reached out to us (which was serendipitous because we were interested in that space, thinking it would be ideal for what we needed), and everything coalesced. Our plans are to shoot the film on Feb 27-28.