Synopsis
Stuck in a claustrophobic marriage, a woman begins an emotional affair with a caterpillar.
Our Review
This short film on subtle emotion is challenging and absorbing. The two lead performers are classy and sophisticated in their performance. This film has a fascinating story line and like all great surrealist films, the interpretation and meaning that each viewer will see something different of it. The film presents her story of loneliness through many moments of silence that adds up to the movie's thought-provoking plot. The location, set, camera, editing are all commendable.
Director Biography - Eva Rini May Cragg
Eva Rini May was born and raised in Wuppertal, Germany, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Bergische Universität Wuppertal in 2011. Eva then moved to Beijing, China, in order to work for the German Architecture Office gmp architects. She began to make her first short films, both live action and animation, as she pursued her Master of Science in Architecture at the KTH Stockholm in Sweden. Upon completing her degree in 2014, Eva came to the Columbia University Graduate Film Program in New York City, from which she is expected to graduate with an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing in February 2019. Recently her short film Bluebird was part of Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Director Statement
‘Ben and Mimi - Mimi and Ben’ is at its core a movie about a codependent relationship, which exists in isolation and is rotating in an almost surreal routine. Suppressed by Ben’s weakness, while simultaneously enabling it, Mimi is longing for a more visceral, physical and primordial connection. The caterpillar entering the house stands for these feelings and brings with it an element of the uncontrolled, which has been very much missing from their lives. In the process of making the movie, we talked a lot about what kind of world we are in and about what level of the surreal we wanted to use. Important to us was that the characters don’t feel as if they are aware of the eccentricity of their actions, but rather that their habits just seem like another way of being. After all, not everything we ourselves do in our daily routines makes complete sense. We focused particularly on the movements of the camera, or sometimes the absence of them. The location we were shooting in had itself many restrictions and I liked the idea of making these flaws a value. We decided to start the movie with static frames and then slowly watch the camera evolve and unfreeze after the arrival of the caterpillar - just like Mimi does. For me personally the movie, including the end, is a subconscious wish fulfillment for Mimi.
Credits
Eva Rini May Cragg Director
Eva Rini May Cragg Writer
Apoorva Guru Charan Producer
Megan Channell Key Cast "Mimi" Mr. Robot (2015), Sarina's Song (2011), Power (2014)
Eric Whitten Key Cast "Ben" The Jim Gaffigan Show (2015), Blackout (2012), Holiday Fear (2017)
Gabriel Wilson Director of Photography
Yu-Hsuan Chen Production Design
Specifications
Project Type: Experimental, Short, Student
Genres: Experimental, Drama, Romance, Surrealism, Others
Runtime: 15 minutes 26 seconds
Completion Date: May 1, 2019
Country of Origin: United States
Country of Filming: United States
Language: English
Shooting Format: F55
Aspect Ratio: 1:1,85
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: No
Student Project: Yes
