Freedom of Movement

THE DRIFTERS

A love story between an African immigrant and a French waitress set in Brexit-torn Britain, The Drifters arrives when polarisation is at its peak. The film traces a tentative romance between gentle spirit Koffee (Jonathan Ajayi) and rambunctious Fanny (Lucie Bourdeu), whose paths entwine before leading them to an idyllic (though independence-leaning) coastal town. “Make Britain great again,” reads a street banner.

“I’d become interested in the issue of freedom of movement, which, of course, is now tragically relevant for everybody,” explains filmmaker Ben Bond of his bucolic yet bittersweet feature debut. Notable when watching Koffee and Fanny’s romance unfurl are the varying restrictions on their hopes and aspirations. Fanny – a Quentin Tarantino aficionado – holds an unwavering and extroverted approach to becoming an actress in America, something she hopes to pursue after applying for citizenship. Koffee is under constant threat of being deported, and toggles between petty crime and long shifts at a car wash to try and stay afloat. A botched final job, that he hoped would secure a passport, sends the pair on the run to a community who don’t take kindly to stowaways.

“I really wanted to shoot somewhere that I knew I could make look beautiful,” Bond explains of the film’s predominantly coastal setting. “I grew up where we shot it, so I knew the secret places, and how to avoid it looking downtrodden or bleak.” In spite of the inescapably political positioning of the pair’s turbulent companionship, Bond creates a playful landscape by imbuing the film with lush palettes and familiar cinematic cues. “We were trying to use colour to tell a story with dark themes in an entertaining and romantic way.”

Bond cites European influences such as Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert as key visual markers for the film. “On the British side, films like A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes – a lot of early Powell and Pressburger collaborations – influenced the film,” Bond confirms. “Technicolour also informed the vividness we wanted to bring to the screen.”

The performances are timeless. Bourdeu – a seasoned French television actress – maintains a nimble performance reminiscent of 1960s French films. Meanwhile, Bond discovered Ajayi in a London production of The Brothers Size, written by Moonlight playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Yet, in spite of The Drifters’ vibrant homage to the past, it arrives when attitudes towards immigration remain splintered. Bond, a staunch supporter of the European Union, hopes that the film leaves a poignant message with fellow-minded viewers, though anticipates a much different reception from Brexiteers. “It’s a really interesting place that we find ourselves in,” he confirms. Regardless of the reactionary climate that it will be received into, The Drifters’ adroit ability to coax lightness out of a dark and divisive moment in history aspires to endure. “Regardless of the reactionary climate that it will be received into, The Drifters' adroit ability to coax lightness out of a dark and divisive moment in history aspires to endure.”

Words Beth Webb

Harnessing Experiences

BABY DONE

Pregnancy has manifested in many forms of film. In horror, being with child is a source of fear and possession. In comedy, those unpredictable nine months draw the parents-to-be into calamity-infused scenarios that test the pair’s compatibility.

Baby Done is a rare curio that sits firmly at the centre of the horror-comedy Venn diagram (if you switch out violence for an overwhelming sense of dread). In this New Zealandset caper, auspicious arborist Zoe (comedian Rose Matafeo) discovers that she’s pregnant by her long-term partner Tim (Matthew Lewis) in the wake of a milestone tree-climbing competition. Rather than embracing the development, Zoe spirals into denial and grabs onto life with everything she’s got, even if it could eventually damage her relationship.

“I wrote this story when I was pregnant as a way of working out how a pregnant woman ‘should be,’” explains screenwriter Sophie Henderson, who made the film with director, and husband, Curtis Vowell. “I hated being pregnant and I was in full denial that there would be a baby at the end of the nine months. I didn’t want to buy a pram, or wear maternity jeans. I just wanted to write this film about a badly-behaved woman.”

Henderson describes the experience of being pregnant to that of a comedy “with a streak of despair” – a bittersweet concoction that floods Zoe’s new world on-screen as she tries desperately to keep hold of the fabulous and freeing life she once upheld. One scene in particular finds her trapped – belly up – under a broken toilet cubicle door on a night out, her growing bump rendering her too wide to squeeze through the narrow gap. “I was determined to write a portrait of a woman who could be unapologetic, unlikable at times, and make mistakes without righting them straight away,” Henderson confirms. “It was important to me that Zoe was relatable because of her weaknesses not despite them.”

Negation of pregnancy rarely – if ever – makes its way into storylines, with films and shows spotlighting the impact that motherhood has on mental health after the birth has happened instead. These stories are invariably gendered, with the noble responsibility of birth placed solely on the woman.

The fact that Henderson has filtered Zoe’s issues through a comedy lens only makes it more powerful, and invites new celebration of the work. “I couldn’t find a film that wasn’t romanticising pregnancy and telling me how delighted I was supposed to feel about the miracle I was growing,” she says. “We often see panic in film from the guy’s point of view. It’s supposed to be him running scared, not ready to settle down.”

Henderson refers fondly to herself as a “pregnant mess” when reflecting on early motherhood. By harnessing this experience, however, she brings a source of comfort and catharsis that doesn’t sacrifice big laughs for the sake of breaking new ground. A necessary mess, then, which has paved the way for a new perspective on pregnancy on-screen. “I was determined to write a portrait of a woman who could be unapologetic, unlikable at times, and make mistakes without righting them straight away. It was important that Zoe was relatable.”

Words Beth Webb

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