Rrrrrrrr... grrrrrr… mumble mumble mumble... I’m feeling sleepy…
The sequence at claw is a pair of two young women traipsing around Lower Manhattan. They begin in Duane Park and continue over to West Broadway to the Balloon Saloon, and then to Washington Market Park, all the way to the Hudson… lots of parks, lots of water, lots of shots of tall buildings… all too shaky, all too short, all with no dramatic pull or thrust. I ask “The Boss” why half of the Super 8mm footage is underexposed, and why he didn’t get more varied coverage of the day. “Look for Morgan’s, I didn’t see anything with the deli in this.” Evidently I missed his beloved childhood bodega, called Morgan’s, not some actress I mistook amongst his collaborators—none of whom I’ve met!
YET.
But “The Boss” doesn’t want to do a wrap party, doesn’t like going to them, besides, this particular movie was shot in such a strange and dislocated way that a wrap party wouldn’t make any sense because there never really was anything like principal photography. SATUR-19 was filmed over nearly a year, from the summer of 2022 to the summer of 2023, with limited segments shot over that time. No characters carried over, and few crew members or actors knew what happened elsewhere. Only four of them went to New York, including “The Boss.” He said that there’ll probably be a party after the premiere of the movie and that I was, of course, invited. But “The Boss” wouldn’t be there.
I asked him again why there were so few dramatic shots in this New York segment, why it was so home movie-ish, so devoid of the mystery and slow pace of the rest of the movie. It was a strange scene to emphasize, especially considering he’s planning on debuting it at a screening in April, the first preview from the movie. “It’s going to need shaping.” Yes, well, that’s what I’m here for. He said he’d give me some old photos to add during the bridge, another piece of music he recorded for the movie. It’s a bit lopsided, the movie, with so many music video sequences at the beginning, narrative segments in the middle, and an avant-garden breakdown at the end that he’s editing himself. I’m only working on the first 70 minutes of SATUR-19.
“The Boss” already had the opening credits when he came to me, and I’ve been cutting the thing here and there ever since. But a deadline’s approaching: Leap Day. Why? Everyone needs a deadline, said “The Boss.” And that one is yours. Assembly cut? At least. I’m trying to put in temp sound and visual effects while I can. I’m not sure why “The Boss” even asked me or anyone else to edit this particular movie, given how strange and oblique it is and how he seems to be the only person that really knows how it’s supposed to look like, in length and width. There was never really a script for SATUR-19, at least not one that resembled this movie. We’ll see. But for now, it’s just me. I’LL SEE. No one else! I’m just trying to give you a good time.
—Follow Monica Quibbits on Twitter: @MonicaQuibbits
