A New Genre of Film

Late Fragment Is Succulent And Delicious

Words – Cristina Gardeazabal

: It’s taken me 5 days, 8 hours, and 44 minutes to find the right words to convey the complexity of Late Fragment, North America’s first interactive feature-length film.

Late Fragment is having its world premiere on September 10th and 12th at CAMERA Bar & Screening Gallery as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s future projections program. UKULA was fortunate enough to be invited by the CFC and NFB for a sneak preview of the film which has been 10 years in the making.

Before I get too unabashedly gushing over the film, an explanation of its use of interactive software is warranted. In fact it’s necessary in order to understand the cinematic impact of this new genre of film.

The CFC Media Lab has been experimenting with the interactive narrative form since 1997. Over the past ten years they have produced over 80 prototypes ranging from web-based interactive documentaries to “shuffle videos” - the creation of randomly generated movies on the i-Pod.

Looking for a way to create a feature length interactive narrative, the CFC took a special interest in DVD video. They developed digital software that with the click of a mouse or remote control allows the viewer to interrupt the story and at any time change viewpoint. The viewer's choices don’t change the course of the narrative, rather they choose which scenes and characters they focus on as the story unfolds.

Late Fragment’s use of multiple plot lines and a non-linear narrative made it a natural choice to combine with the CFC’s interactive software. With three acts, nine chapters, three endings, 139 scenes, 380 clicks / non-clicks, 10 loops and 10 rabbit holes the interactive narrative style “places the viewer into the meaning-making process of storytelling."

When I think of the film as a whole, the best way to explain it is like being blindfolded and fed an orgy of succulent and divine fruit. The bold choice made by the film’s producers Ana Serrano and Anita Lee to employ three writer-directors: Daryl Cloran, Anita Doron and Mateo Guez, gives the interactive narrative its delicious flavor.

Inspired by a restorative justice program in Montreal, the writer-directors sew together the fictional stories of three strangers: Faye (Kristen Bridges), Kevin (Michael Healy) and Theo (Jeff Parazzo) who meet in a group therapy session to tell their personal stories as both perpetrators and victims of violent crimes.

The interactive narrative pieces together their fragmented pasts and subsequently blurs the lines between victims and perpetrators as the characters travel through the events that lead them to their current states.

Anita Doron’s story follows Faye, the mother of a troubled teen who is introduced in the film's opening scene as the shaky and teary eyed girl pointing the barrel of a gun directly at the audience. Unlocking the secrets of Faye’s story, you begin to understand how her actions put the gun into her daughter’s hand.

Daryl Cloran’s character, Kevin, is a schlumpy recently divorced security guard. Kevin’s inability to take care of himself and his struggle to provide for his teenage son lead him to constantly get taken advantage of, eventually pushing him over the edge.

Perhaps based on the prescribed clicks, I felt as if I saw the most of French writer-director Mateo Guez’s story of the young male stripper/prostitute, Theo, who ritually cuts his body. His past catches up to him as an older man becomes a regular customer at the club he works at.

Guez directed the provocative scenes with an honesty that neither glazes over the reality of the dark sexual and masochistic situations nor fetishizes them.

Without revealing a key fragment of Theo’s story, one scene in particular gave me goose-bumps as it made me feel like I was breathing the same air as the character on screen. Jeff Parazzo’s natural sensuality made him a perfect match for the role.

As much as Late Fragment was a collaboration between the three writer-directors to create one seamless narrative, I found Guez’s contribution to be the most visually and aurally stunning of the three.

Anita and Mateo attended the screening and were available afterward for questions. When asked about how they felt writing for the interactive film, Mateo, like his work, was very straightforward: “To be honest I have a big ego, with three directors and two producers it is hard, you have to learn to share.”

For Anita, “the process has made me think of screenwriting in a new way. I would definitely like my next project to be an interactive comedy.”

After the screening and questions I was invited to be an active participant. Clicking on specific characters I was able to reveal more of Kevin’s story which I hadn’t seen in the initial screening, due to the course that the viewing had taken.

The experience took me beyond merely being a passive voyeur and made me feel like an active participant, digging my way into the world of the characters as I chose to. Late Fragment is a must-see at TIFF, and definitely a must-own on DVD, which is set for release this fall.