Karina reviewed Present Company and at SXSW sat down with Frank Ross, the director, and three actors from the movie: Anthony Baker, Sasha Gioppo and Tamara Fana. I helped with the recording, since Karina has professed herself “bad at interviews,” but what you’ll notice is how she gets right to the interesting bits.

 

 SXSW 2008: Frank Ross interview [6:26m]: Play Now | Download

SXSW 2008: Frank Ross and cast interview
Present Company

Present Company is ostensibly about two young parents in a fading relationship who suffer cohabitation in a parent’s basement for the sake of their toddler, but director Frank Ross tells us what his film is really about in the first scene. The director stars as Buddy, an insensitive, immature twenty-something who is apprenticing in construction. We meet him on the job, where his co-worker has just opened a can of some kind of hazardous chemical. Not wanting to inhale the fumes, Buddy recoils. “I’ve got a long life ahead of me man,” he protests. A few lines later, assessing the work they’ve done, Buddy says, “We kind of glued ourselves into a corner, huh?” “Not me, man–you did it,” his co-worker responds.This is a movie about a boy stuck in a situation that feels interminable, who instead of taking responsibility for having glued himself in a corner, tries to share the blame with everyone around him. Too on-the-nose? Maybe, but it’s forgivable as a kind of thesis statement for a film that otherwise refuses a black-and-white analysis of its characters and their behavior. Somewhat less concerned with physical space than his last film, Hohokam, Present Company concentrates on making tangible the invisible space between people, and the lying, cheating and play-acting that we do to either transverse the space or willfully ignore it.

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This episode of Butterknife co-stars Anthony Baker and Frank V. Ross, star and director of Hohokam. You can go to Spout.com’s Butterknife page for more info on the series, to watch future episodes, to talk about the show, and to sign up for email updates.

Previous episodes:

Plastic Hassle

BUTTERKNIFE promo: Baker and Ross

Add to My Profile | More VideosIt’s that time again. Above, you’ll find the second-to-last in our series of Butterknife promo shorts, made by the cast and crew of Joe Swanberg’s new web series. This installment is the work of Frank Ross, whose films Hohokam and Quietly on By screened as part of IFC’s New Talkies festival last summer. This clip stars Ross and fellow Butterknife co-star Tony Baker, who has also appeared in each of Ross’ films to date. Take a look, and check back next Monday for the last of our Butterknife promos, directed by none other than Mary Bronstein. Here’s a clue about that one that might entice you: it stars a puppet version of Joe Swanberg. And don’t forget: Butterknife premieres on January 28, right here.

Previous Butterknife shorts:

Barlow Jacobs
Michael Tully