Set! from director Scott Gawlik had its Dutch premiere in the Best of Fest category at IDFA. It’s available now on Discovery+.
Growing up, I would go to The Ex, and my family would often check in on the competition areas, where people had displayed their skills in things like sand and butter sculpture or blooms. As a young child, I was obsessed with the horses that were there to compete. Someone even gave me their ribbon once. If there was a table scaping competition, I missed it. However, after seeing Set! and the care the subjects put into their designs, it’s something I will look out for at any fairs I’m at in the future.
Set! centers on the world of competitive table setting, or table scaping as the competitors refer to it. If you didn’t know this was a documentary, you would probably mistake it for a mockumentary in the vein of Christopher Guest’s work (i.e., Best in Show, Mascots) because of the over-the-top competitor intros involving slow-motion glamour shots. However, each competitor is serious in their pursuit, most taking six months to execute their visions.
The main reason the film might seem like a mockumentary is because of the amazing “cast of characters” selected for their featured competitors. Based on their interviews, where there are some subjects that we see that aren’t focal competitors, I would guess they tested more potential “cast” before whittling it down. And although they end up with a large cast, they are all compelling for different reasons. You understand why each was chosen from their first intro. However, Scott Gawlik still found ways to expand the layers of each chosen competitor, while building their connections to each other. Because in the world of Southern California table scaping, it’s a small world.
You have Bonnie “The Veteran”: She has made her backyard into a thing of wonder for herself to enjoy, with doors to Jurassic Park and a Tiki Room (why is she not working as a Disney Imagineer?). Marie & Christel “The Mother & Daughter Team”: Their methods are at odds as they try to work together for the first time in over 20 years. Hilarie “The Artist”: She takes big swings with her tables that often involve taxidermy. Tim “The Dreamer”: He’s currently out of work and struggling financially, but trying to get a ribbon at the competition is what’s driving him forward. Crystal “The Defending Champ”: She won the last Orange County Fair and is also the rookie in the bunch having only gotten into it four years ago after being inspired after seeing Bonnie’s work at a fair. Janet “The Collector”: She travels the world looking for unique items for her tables, and keeps every table on display in her home (she has eight before this competition). Finally, there are Cheryl & Ginnie “The Water Babes”: They talk out their ideas with their water aerobics class, who all support their efforts by trying to contribute items to their table theme. As a former lifeguard, I got a big chuckle from the lifeguard referring to the class as them socializing more than working out because that must be a universal water aerobics truth.
Back to the heart of the competition because each competitor is so different, their approach is very different. Hilarie for example likes to make statements and is not afraid to make people uncomfortable. Though I was mostly uncomfortable listening to her husband talk about what happened to the mice she used on a previous table, ick. Bonnie likes to lean her scaping into country themes, something the other competitors are not fans of (but, apparently, judges usually love because they are at a county fair). Most of the competitors chose to use a rectangular table. For some, it’s because circular table cloths are intimidating, but for others, it’s because their dimensions are more forgiving, less crowded in their appearance. But everyone agrees that you need a showstopper. Be it a chandler, colour palette, or the perfect dishes.
The documentary Set! also acts as a little how-to should it be something that appeals to someone to try, both as an advertisement and a deterrent. It shows how much time and effort people put into it for a few short days, as well as the costs many of them incur. It also shows how brutal point deductions can be, because while the table scaping itself can be whimsical, there is a regimented aspect in that the plates, glasses, and utensils displayed must perfectly match your menu. Bonnie went to an appraiser to make sure her 100-year-old china bowl was a soup bowl so she wouldn’t lose points, having lost Best in Show at a previous competition for spelling Pilot Grigio wrong. However, the joy it brings these competitors, who keep coming back, and the people who stop to see what they’ve created at the fair may be enough to entice someone with an eye for design, and time to commit to the art of the set scaping. Or perhaps, like Tim and many of the others, they will find the allure of competition and ribbons enough of a motivator.
Stray Thought:
Coloured ribbons that visibly denote a placement are such a powerful motivator for people. Listening to how Tim did his first table scaping for fun but kept coming back because he placed and wanted to get more ribbons, wanted to achieve Best in Show, reminded me of Nxivm and their stripe path. The context here is different, but I think the cult was tapping into that same competitive drive/instinct of people.