by Jon Partridge
Many can see a piece of art and be baffled by it, not understanding its connections or its intent. Felt shows the profoundly deep connection an artist can have with their work as form of communication and an outlet, a way to express inner emotions such as joy and pain. Felt manifests this connection in a very tangible way, and more importantly than that, it highlights an issue with society about the frequency of violence towards women and its tolerance of it.
Director Jason Banker approaches his filmmaking in a abstract way. He selects a subject and begins filming their life; then together with the subject he takes it on a path informed (but not led) by the reality of the subject in order to create a story.
In Felt he partners with Amy Everson (deserved winner of the Fantastic Fest 2014 Best Actor award) who plays Amy, an artist who is the victim of unexplained sexual abuse. Through her art she takes on new identities, making masks and body suits outfitted with male and female genitalia. Often she dresses up in these guises and wanders the forest as a man, a role-reversal to try and regain a position of strength. Her friends, aware of her history, try to push her into moving past it and her coping mechanism to move on with her life. One evening she encounters the quiet but sweet Kenny (Kentucker Audley) and begins to feel she can trust again. Or can she?
Felt is a profoundly affecting viewing experience. It confronts the ideas of rape culture, but also the small slights against women that accumulate and stack against them in this male dominated society of ours. Acting as director, writer, producer, and cinematographer, Banker blends his documentary approach with something beautiful at times and coldly chilling throughout. It’s a weighty, unsettling, and emotional journey he takes you on that is ultimately rooted in the performance and experiences of the lead.
Everson is an immense presence in the film, moreso when armed with the knowledge that she isn’t a professional actress. She starts out as a weird, damaged character but soon envelops you with her personality: quirky, odd, dark, creative, strong, and yet intensely vulnerable. She somehow finds a strength in her fragmentation, albeit one that is hard to understand. Banker has helped to fashion something very intimate in his collaboration with her, a journey as she copes, heals, and is hurt yet again. At times tonal shifts and editing issues can cause emotional beats to peter out, but these are small issues in a powerful and personal piece of work that is infused with a inevitable sense of dread.
The film offers no real answers or solutions to the problems it highlights; in fact there is a bleakness in how it seems to show the perpetuation of the cycle of abuse against women, and perhaps that is the point. It is a cycle that will continue in a culture that fails to deal with rape culture in all its guises. Smart direction with beautiful visuals, Felt is ultimately rooted by the incredible performance by Everson and her story, one that elicits empathy and forces you to acknowledge this gut-churning aspect of our society that informs a plethora of issues towards women.
Felt is a incredible organic collaboration between a filmmaker and his subject that has spawned a very intense, very tragic, and very personal piece of cinema. Profoundly affecting work.
Felt will be released in the following theaters from June 26th with a VOD release to follow July 21st.
June 26
New York, NY — IFC Center *Q&A with Amy Everson, Jason Banker and Kentucker Audley Opening Night!
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Cinemas West Hollywood
July 1
Columbus, OH — Gateway Film Center
July 10
Atlanta, GA — Plaza Theatre
Detroit, MI — Cinema Detroit
Pittsburgh, PA — Harris Theater
Salem, MA — CinemaSalem
San Diego, CA — Digital Gym
San Francisco, CA — Roxie Theater *Q&A with Amy Everson Opening Weekend!
Seattle, WA — Grand Illusion Cinema
July 11
Houston, TX — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Vintage Park
July 14
Albuquerque, NM — Guild Cinema
Winchester, VA — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema *one night only
July 17
Austin, TX — Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Denver, CO — Sie FilmCenter
Ottawa, Ontario, CA — Mayfair Theatre
Phoenix, AZ — FilmBar *one night only
July 20
Philadelphia, PA — Trocadero Theatre *one night only