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==Production==
==Production==
===Writing and filming===
===Writing and filming===
In an interview with Norman Wilner, Cockburn said he first conceived of ''You Are Here'' as "both a series of shorts and a feature-length movie," like a [[concept album]] or short story collection that "halfway through, you realize is actually a novel."<ref name="Wilner" /> In an interview with Adam Nayman, Cockburn described the process of writing ''You Are Here'' from conception to final draft as taking two and a half years. It was shot "on almost all possible formats": [[35mm]], [[16mm]], [[Red Digital Cinema|RED]], [[High-definition video|HD]], [[MiniDV]], [[Super 8 film|Super 8]], and [[BetaMax]], in what Nayman calls a "lo-fi, anachronistic production design", remarking that Cockburn's previous short pieces carry a recurrent theme of [[technophobia]].<ref name=Nayman /> Though the film was shot entirely in [[Toronto]], Cockburn deliberately fudged the city's geography, making up "a mishmash of Toronto streets and also made-up names and numbered streets so nobody could ever watch the movie and try to correlate it with extant geography."<ref name=Nayman />
In an interview with Norman Wilner, Cockburn said he first conceived of ''You Are Here'' as "both a series of shorts and a feature-length movie," like a [[concept album]] or short story collection that "halfway through, you realize is actually a novel."<ref name="Wilner" /> Cockburn said in an interview with Adam Nayman: "I started thinking that it might be a good idea to make a series of short films that were a whole program unto themselves, which were intended to be shown together, with certain recurring images and ideas."<ref name=Nayman /> ''You Are Here'' was shot on almost all possible formats: [[35mm]], [[16mm]], [[Red Digital Cinema|RED]], [[High-definition video|HD]], [[MiniDV]], [[Super 8 film|Super 8]], and [[BetaMax]], in what Nayman calls a "lo-fi, anachronistic production design", remarking that Cockburn's previous short pieces carry a recurrent theme of [[technophobia]].<ref name=Nayman /> Though the film was shot entirely in [[Toronto]], Cockburn deliberately fudged the city's geography, making up "a mishmash of Toronto streets and also made-up names and numbered streets so nobody could ever watch the movie and try to correlate it with extant geography."<ref name=Nayman /> The process of writing ''You Are Here'' from conception to final draft took two and a half years.<ref name=Nayman />


The end credits ambiguously suggest the film may or may not include an accurate representation of American philosopher [[John Searle]]'s ideas.<ref name=Nayman /> The scenes with the Experimenter are based on Searle's [[Chinese room]] [[thought experiment]], which Cockburn described in 2016 as "sort of a pessimistic cousin" to the [[Turing test]]: Cockburn called Searle on the telephone seeking permission to use the Chinese room, and says Searle replied he was "very busy" without elaboration.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cockburn |first1=Daniel |title=Daniel Cockburn Introduces His Film "You Are Here" |url=https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/daniel-cockburn-introduces-his-film-you-are-here |website=MUBI |accessdate=15 December 2018}}</ref> In the Nayman interview, Cockburn simply recounts getting permission from Searle, and then remarks that he forgot to credit [[Douglas Hofstadter]] who wrote ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'', which was the source for the film's "headache" word puzzle.<ref name=Nayman />
The end credits ambiguously suggest the film may or may not include an accurate representation of American philosopher [[John Searle]]'s ideas.<ref name=Nayman /> The scenes with the Experimenter are based on Searle's [[Chinese room]] [[thought experiment]], which Cockburn described in 2016 as "sort of a pessimistic cousin" to the [[Turing test]]: Cockburn, who believes in acknowledging his sources, called Searle on the telephone seeking permission to use the Chinese room, and says Searle replied he was "very busy" without elaboration.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cockburn |first1=Daniel |title=Daniel Cockburn Introduces His Film "You Are Here" |url=https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/daniel-cockburn-introduces-his-film-you-are-here |website=MUBI |accessdate=15 December 2018}}</ref> In the Nayman interview, Cockburn simply recounts getting permission from Searle, and then remarks that he forgot to credit [[Douglas Hofstadter]] who wrote ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'', which was the source for the film's "headache" word puzzle.<ref name=Nayman />


===Casting===
===Casting===

Revision as of 02:07, 5 January 2019

You Are Here
Directed byDaniel Cockburn
Written byDaniel Cockburn
Starring
CinematographyCabot McNenly
Edited byDuff Smith
Music byRick Hyslop
Release date
  • August 10, 2010 (2010-08-10) (Locarno)
Running time
79 minutes
LandKanada
SpracheEnglisch

You Are Here is a 2010 Canadian philosophical speculative fiction film written and directed by video artist Daniel Cockburn, which he also co-produced with Daniel Bekerman. Alternately billed as a "Borgesian fantasy" and a "meta-detective story", Cockburn's first feature film[1] mainly following a woman (Tracy Wright, in her final performance)[2] searching for the meaning behind a series of audiovisual documents from other universes,[1] seemingly left purposefully for her to find, some of which are shown as vignettes concerning figures such as the Lecturer (R.D. Reid) and the Experimenter (Anand Rajaram) interspersed throughout the film. She finds so many of them they fill a room she calls the Archive, and herself its Archivist. In time, the Archive appears to resist her attempts at cataloguing and organizing it, and she receives a cell phone instead of the usual document, leading to a fateful encounter with others.

The film features music by Rick Hyslop and visual effects by Robert James Spurway,[3] and makes use of excerpts from films by fellow Canadian filmmaker John Price.[4]

Principle characters and cast

  • The Archivist, portrayed by Tracy Wright
  • The Lecturer, portrayed by R.D. Reid
  • The Experimenter, portrayed by Anand Rajaram
  • The Assistant, portrayed by Nadia Capone
  • Voice of the Philosopher, voiced by Hardee Lineham
  • The Trackers (Verna, Hal, Sharon, Bob) portrayed by Shannon Beckner, Richard Clarkin, Jenni Burk, Robert Kennedy
  • The Field Agents (Marcie, Edgar) portrayed by Nadia Litz, Alec Stockwell
  • Narrating Alan,[5] portrayed by Scott Anderson
  • Alan in the stairwell, portrayed by Emily Davidson-Niedoba
  • The Children, portrayed by Shae Norris, Rosie Elia, Isaac Durmford
  • The Inventor, portrayed by Peter Solala
  • Child's voice, voiced by London Angelis

Production

Writing and filming

In an interview with Norman Wilner, Cockburn said he first conceived of You Are Here as "both a series of shorts and a feature-length movie," like a concept album or short story collection that "halfway through, you realize is actually a novel."[2] Cockburn said in an interview with Adam Nayman: "I started thinking that it might be a good idea to make a series of short films that were a whole program unto themselves, which were intended to be shown together, with certain recurring images and ideas."[4] You Are Here was shot on almost all possible formats: 35mm, 16mm, RED, HD, MiniDV, Super 8, and BetaMax, in what Nayman calls a "lo-fi, anachronistic production design", remarking that Cockburn's previous short pieces carry a recurrent theme of technophobia.[4] Though the film was shot entirely in Toronto, Cockburn deliberately fudged the city's geography, making up "a mishmash of Toronto streets and also made-up names and numbered streets so nobody could ever watch the movie and try to correlate it with extant geography."[4] The process of writing You Are Here from conception to final draft took two and a half years.[4]

The end credits ambiguously suggest the film may or may not include an accurate representation of American philosopher John Searle's ideas.[4] The scenes with the Experimenter are based on Searle's Chinese room thought experiment, which Cockburn described in 2016 as "sort of a pessimistic cousin" to the Turing test: Cockburn, who believes in acknowledging his sources, called Searle on the telephone seeking permission to use the Chinese room, and says Searle replied he was "very busy" without elaboration.[6] In the Nayman interview, Cockburn simply recounts getting permission from Searle, and then remarks that he forgot to credit Douglas Hofstadter who wrote Gödel, Escher, Bach, which was the source for the film's "headache" word puzzle.[4]

Casting

Cockburn thought Tracy Wright would be perfect for the role of the Archivist after seeing her in Monkey Warfare. He contacted her through Jacob Wren, sent her the script, then met and talked with her for three hours, during which she said she didn’t "get" the script: "I ended up telling her about a paranoid-delusional breakdown I'd gone through, and how that was the emotional basis for what I'd written. I don't know if that's what helped her find her way in, but however it happened, she found the non-theoretical, genuine core of the character."[4] Wright shot You Are Here about a year before her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and saw the finished work a few months before her death.[2]

Release and reception

The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2010, and then had its North American premiere on September 15, 2010[2] at the 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival.[7][8] In the United States, it was first released in New York City on May 11, 2012.

Critical response

Sources differ as to the film's reception at Locarno. Audiences at Locarno are said to have beeen "sharply divided" by Leslie Felperin,[5] whereas Norman Wilner says it was "received enthusiastically by critics and audiences."[2] Early festival reviews, such as Felperin's, called the film "charming" and "playful" and compared it to the films of Charlie Kaufman.[5][9][10] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has achieved a score of 82% based on eleven reviews, for an average rating of 7/10.[11] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted score, the film has received a 63 out of 100 based on four reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]

Leslie Felperin praised the "mostly unknown cast", who contributed "solid" performances: "Wright’s part is the meatiest by far, and she brings an affecting vulnerability to her role as the confused archivist."[5] Contrastingly, Erick Kohn admires the ambition of the film, but says it "suffers from stilted, humorless performances and some clunky pacing issues"; even so, he says "the ideas sustain it", and "Cockburn's use of pop philosophy yields an original form of heady entertainment", assigning the film a grade of "B+".[13] Eli Glasner gives the film 3.5/5: "To be blunt, this movie's not for everyone, but stick with it to the end and some of the puzzle pieces finally fall into place. If you're looking for explanations, Cockburn would never be so obvious. A mood piece and a post-modern maze, You Are Here is where you are."[10]

Accolades

References

  1. ^ a b "You Are Here press kit" (PDF). www.you-are-here-movie.com/. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e Wilner, Norman (September 11, 2010). "Tracy Wright's fine, final performance: You Are Here's director Daniel Cockburn describes working with Tracy Wright". Now Toronto. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  3. ^ "You Are Here (2010)". BFI Film Forever. British Film Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Nayman, Adam. "The Antisocial Network: Daniel Cockburn's You Are Here". Cinema Scope. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d Felperin, Leslie (August 19, 2010). "You Are Here: A charming, Charlie Kaufman-like metafictional puzzler from debuting Canuck writer-helmer Daniel Cockburn". Variety. Retrieved December 31, 2018. Alan" is a cipher, "a crowd of ethnically diverse men and women of varying ages are all introduced as Alan. As he goes about his morning routine, Alan is played by some two dozen thesps in different shots.
  6. ^ Cockburn, Daniel. "Daniel Cockburn Introduces His Film "You Are Here"". MUBI. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  7. ^ Dixon, Guy (August 12, 2011). "Daniel Cockburn, filmmaker". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  8. ^ "You Are Here". Film Festival Locarno Archives. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  9. ^ Chang, Chris. "Hot Property: You Are Here". Film Comment (May/June 2011). Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Glasner, Eli. "FILM REVIEW: You Are Here". CBC News - Things that go pop!. CBC. Retrieved December 31, 2018. A cinematic spawn of Charlie Kaufman and Franz Kafka, You Are Here is a film that asks more questions than it answers.
  11. ^ "You Are Here (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "You Are Here (2012)". Metacritic. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  13. ^ Kohn, Eric. "Daniel Cockburn's Enigmatic "You Are Here" Is "Inception" With More Puzzles". IndieWire. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  14. ^ "Toronto Film Critics Association Awards". The Globe and Mail, January 15, 2011.
  15. ^ "And the winner is…". EMAF. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
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