#MondayMovies: Blair Waters
Blair Waters + Princess Rita
Let’s cut to the obvious, Princess Rita, Blair Waters’ debut short, is absolutely fantastic, and the praise it’s received is well-deserved. What I personally love about the movie is that it perfectly blends tragedy and comedy, and does so with a current of hope and optimism. Striking this difficult tone could lead lesser storytellers into more convoluted and uncertain territory, but Waters has done the opposite, She’s created something unique and incredibly specific.
The desire to make the film happened as most good art does, on an impulse. “I think it started off to just see if we could do it — I’d never directed a narrative film before, had only worked off a script once, and Mallory Rice had never written a screenplay.”
The experience has paid off. Waters was recently named a Young Director to Watch by VICE and is a 2020 IFP Episodic Lab Fellow with her new project. She has learned much from the experience.
“I’d always had this visual world in my mind, I just thought no-one would want to see it, so this whole experience has been magical and made me realize the world will open up for you if you stop trying to be normal.”
See what films influence Blair and Princess Rita below!
Where to Watch
A Pigeon Sat on A Branch Reflecting on Existence
“I love the attention to color in [Anderson’s] films and how, if you have the subtitles on, one frame can act like a little story within itself. It’s incredibly funny but also uncomfortable and intensely lonely, and I just have never really found a director I’m, with every frame, freaking out at.”
Where to Watch
Me and You and Everyone We Know
“Visually this is less of an influence, but tonally I think it was a big one, mostly how it undulates between sad and funny. I saw this first in high school and thought it was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen - I think about the goldfish scene a lot. It’s also, to me, very much about loneliness and a deep internal world.”
Where to Watch
Vernon Florida
“The weirdness of Florida! While it is a documentary, I think we took lots from his framing and letting things play out in long shots, versus having everything be super blocked out.”