Experiencing Interruptions?

CARL BLARX | LIFE SENTENCES

A man is washed up on the shore of a lonely planet and gradually begins to awaken to the sensuality of nature and in turn his own strength and curiosity enabling him to enter the dark shadow of the forest where he discovers deeper, more powerful aspects within himself.

  • ANDERSON
    Director
  • Bridget Muir
    Producer
  • Jazz Lintott
    Producer
  • Haya Altamimi
    Producer
  • Carl Blarx
    Key Cast
  • Carl Blarx
    Name of Band or Artist
  • Tanmoye Khan
    DOP
  • Project Type:
    Music Video, Student
  • Genres:
    Supernatural, Samurai, Sci Fi, Experimental, Surrealist, Cosmic, Music Video, Dreamscape
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 58 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 3, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, 2xAnamorphic, Infrared
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39-1
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Raindance
Director Biography - ANDERSON

Hello I'm Anderson (Bridget Muir). I was born to a teenage runaway mother in the 1970s and raised in a politically active socialist quaker-buddhist commune in east London by a group of young writers painters film-makers musicians feminist psychologists and cocktail waitresses. I spent two years at The Young Vic School of Music and Drama and went on to become one of the first female DJs on pirate radio, later working as a sing-o-gram and then session singer, collaborating with many artists, bands and producers within the music industry over a twenty year period from British hip hop, dance and country to playstation games and soundtrack for film. My electro house band Cargo77 had a cult dance hit in Italy and South Africa and I have had music released as a solo artist. I write and produced stories set to music, run a ghost radio station podcast called Radiostudio79 and have had my audio immersive work shown at Tate Britain. In 2018 I went back to school to study photography full time and am now a full time student at Raindance film school and am currently in preproduction with two music videos and a couple of shorts. I also have three micro tv shows and two features in development. For decompression and relaxation I watch Columbo and communicate through a self penned fictional character @ilovelois 'the worst street reporter on the planet' on instagram.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film came into my orbit when I stepped into my son’s recording session and heard the first few bars of Life Sentences. I was immediately transported into a vast slow world where a lone samurai knight carrying the weight of the past was pushing forwards through ever changing layers of wild nature. I asked if he would allow me to direct the music video and he said yes.

I remembered the samurai films of my childhood, 1960s and 70s black and white films depicting haunted men on foot travelling long hard distances under scorching sun, snow and storm, acting out tales of vengeance and honour. Films I would watch in the cinema with my step father on Sundays double and triple bill features. Films I watched late at night that my parents would forget to switch off when they had friends over.

I wanted to visually present the idea of duality of human nature and of man in nature and the conflicted versions we hold of our inner perceptions of ourselves and our place in the world. In this story a man is washed up on the shores of a strange lonely planet, an intergalactic traveller who is perhaps trapped in a multi dimensional universe and watching himself repeating the loop, unable to escape, unable to stop the cycle. A violation of the order of nature. But this man is just trying to make sense of things, the Gods shine empathy and love on humans who may have just done something dreadful and deeply awful, the planet is still beautiful. The man gradually begins to awaken to the sensuality of nature and in turn his own strength and curiosity, enabling him to enter the darker shadows of the forest, indeed the darker shadow of himself, finally finding the courage to enter the black abyss of the tree where he reconnects and discovers deeper, more powerful aspects within himself. Integrating the light and the dark back together. Creating a whole.

The story was extremely wide and soft so shooting 2xanamorphic seemed right, though I still wonder what it would have felt like watching it in the almost square aspect ratio of my childhood black and white portable TV set. I came across an interview with Agnes Varde explaining her use of coloured glass filters to achieve a soft snowy look on the chlorophyll greens of the park in Cleo From 5 - 7 and this ultimately informed our decision to shoot infrared which really gave it the otherworldly texture we see on screen. So thank you Agnes Varde!

This film is a love letter to my son.