The Projector #20: Shaking the Tree (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

This October, out of nowhere, the BBC released “The Fall,” a new film by Jonathan Glazer. Though not a feature — it runs just six minutes long without credits — it still qualified as an event. Really, anything Glazer releases counts as an event these days. Since making his name as one of the most distinctive music video directors in the ’90s, Glazer has made just three features: Sexy Beast, Birth, and Under the Skin. Each has captured his striking, foreboding visual style and each has earned considerable acclaim, eventually, if not right away. (I need to revisit Birth, which struck me as a great director trying to push thin material further than it wanted to go when I first saw it, but people I respect have championed it since its 2004 release.)

Here in the U.S., this was both exciting and frustrating because those of us on this side of the Atlantic didn’t get a chance to see what others were describing as a haunting and timely new work. That changed, just as unexpectedly, today, with A24’s release of “The Fall,” which is now available online. Combining an unsettling atmosphere (created in part by Mica Levi’s score), images of masked figures, mob violence, and a possibly post-apocalyptic setting, it’s probably the most haunting six minutes you’ll watch today.

But what’s it about? Glazer himself doesn’t seem to know, or at least seem eager to explain it. Speaking to Rolling Stone’s David Fear, who describes the short as a “free-form dystopian travelogue that plays like Kafka filtered through Cronenberg,” Glazer says he told a friend, “If I have to talk to anybody about this film, I don’t really want to say anything.” He has, however, said one shot was expired by safari photos of Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, and though the content remains vague, it feels incredibly timely.

I’ve always been a bit puzzled as to why short films haven’t found a more receptive home online, but we do seem to be at a moment when major directors are learning how to use it more effectively. There’s Glazer, for one, and Paul Thomas Anderson seems frequently to have some kind of music project or others in the works much of the time. The X factor, as always, is money. The BBC and Columbia Records have deeper pockets and an ability to finance such projects unavailable to most filmmakers. It probably also helps to be Jonathan Glazer or Paul Thomas Anderson when it comes to getting green lights for short films. But maybe things will change. It seems a shame that the mammoth online audience can’t direct more attention to works from emerging filmmakers that don’t demand that much of your time.

So what’s up with The Next Picture Show this week? Glad you asked! Patreon subscribers will get a bonus episode about The Mandalorian. (And if there are any upcoming movies or shows you’re dying for us to cover, please let us know.) Meanwhile, over at the main podcast, we’ll be releasing the second half of our The Producers / Jojo Rabbit pairing. While you wait, here are a few items worth reading (but just a few, since it was seemingly kind of a slow week).

We teased this last week: At The Guardian, Scott Tobias writes about Song of the South.

Disney+ will be correcting this soon, but here are a few gags ruined by cropping The Simpsons.

To complement our upcoming Mandalorian discussion, here’s Polygon’s Russ Frushtick explaining how the show is like a video game (but in a good way).