We had an opportunity to speak with Marcelo Machado about his new short film, The Decision. This is an elegantly simple film that will probably hit close to home with many audience members. This is a direct and powerful statement about the choices many young people must face. Thank you for taking some time for us.
Chris McClure, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): What inspired you to write this film?
Marcelo Machado (MM): I consider that a work of art always has a deep connection with its creator. In this case, it is an accumulation of emotions and personal experiences that led me to reflect on the subject, a highly politicized ethical and moral debate, approached in the film with the intention of capturing a reality present in everyday life. This was my main intention at all times, to take to the film the complex emotional layers behind this conflict, without activism or concessions.
(UM): The soundtrack, like the film, is simple yet powerful. How did you decide on this piece by Chopin?
(MM): Chopin’s piece has a high existential value, given also by its previous uses in cinema itself, but in this case, it accentuates an atmosphere of tension in the middle of a wait that seems endless, that the tempo of the piece drew very well, and of course, these characteristics helped me create the environment I needed. It is a piece with a clear independent force, and it is extremely suggestive, which could even endanger the creative unity of the film, because of its beauty. But it was also a decision motivated by personal reasons, it is a work of art that is part of my reality, which had accompanied me in many important moments of my life. It was non-negotiable.
(UM): You chose to have the two having this debate over text rather than in person. Could you tell us the reasoning behind this decision?
(MM): This film started as a school project. As part of one of my classes, I had to make a silent short film with the means provided by the university. This condition gave me the opportunity to also address one of the most serious problems faced by my generation and generations close to mine: the lack of communication. On the other hand, the trivialization of such important issues, a phenomenon amplified due to the explosion of social networks and technology, is further accentuated when the debate on fundamental issues is often determined by personal opinions generated in social networks, which are ascending, in society, to the category of “truth.” In short, technology has hijacked the way we communicate, distancing us more and more from each other. In that sense, the use of cellphones in the short was very useful to touch on that subject.
(UM): What was the production process like? How long did it take? Did anything unexpected happen?
(MM): The production process was undoubtedly the most complicated part in this job. We were a team of five people that, including myself, consisted of an assistant director, a camera man, and two actors. Together, we had to carry out the initial idea with a time frame of around two months. Unfortunately, that time was later reduced to only three days of shooting, after the school and practically the entire country closed due to the global pandemic caused by Covid-19. For me it was a very hard blow, I could not find neither the desire nor the ways to carry the project forward with only 3 days of shooting, but after months of a lot of post-production work, largely thanks to my father, who with much effort reconciled me with the work, we all managed to get exactly the results we had in mind from the beginning, having to shoot the last scene (from the actor Alan Bendahan) remotely, following some indications of mine. Despite the inexperience and never having worked together, with just one meeting, we all understood our roles from the beginning and were able to carry them out in the best possible way, I am convinced that this is where ´´success´´ lies in our work.
(UM): I found the setting pretty gloomy. All the concrete seems to suggest a cold hard world that they have to face. Could you tell us why you chose this stairway and the bare concrete wall as the backdrop here?
(MM): Each location had defined purposes. In his case, being on a staircase represents the immediacy of his problem and, therefore, of his mental and emotional state. It is essential for me to psychologically analyze each character to determine as accurately as possible how to configure the scene around them. Sitting on a ladder, represents a form of despair, discomfort, interruption, being oblivious to your surroundings, trapped by a problem from which you cannot find a way out. With her we find a similar situation, she is sitting on a bench, a universal symbol of waiting. It is about a woman who feels alone, afraid, who has the responsibility to make a difficult decision amid so many social and emotional pressures, but who, unlike him, is in a position to make that decision. This way of seeing things is framed within an attempt to construct my own cinematographic conceptions, and in that attempt, I cannot avoid encountering the greatness, for example, of Italian cinema from the 60s and 70s, by Fellini and Antonioni in particular. They, without a doubt, were my first influences.
(UM): It seemed to me that you were trying to take a morally neutral stance in the film. Is that accurate?
(MM): As I mentioned previously, I consider that the connection between artist and piece must always be very personal, otherwise I think that we would find ourselves before an inconsequential product as a work of art. This relationship directly eliminates the neutrality of said work. But I think that the function of a creator is to build a space for reflection, where the audience takes its own path, even to disagree with the author’s vision. It would be a mistake from the author to assume that there exists a prior complicity between him, and whoever receives his work. In the case of The Decision, I did nothing more than putting the issue on the table: the decision of an abortion between a man and a woman, from the perspective of a man, without populism or activism, or the intervention of other interests.
(UM): For me, the overriding feeling of the film was sadness and claustrophobia. Was this what you intended the audience to feel?
(MM): My main intention was to make the audience feel identified with this experience, and that at the end of the film, they would ask themselves, what would I have done? It never crossed my mind to create a sentimental story, appealing to the public’s sensitivity, it is just the opposite, it was a conscious decision not to overload the story emotionally, because only then, it could reach its highest emotional state, because it was more attached to the daily reality, and for this, I had to create certain states of mind in the actors. Undeniably, throughout the film, sadness and the feeling that the protagonists are trapped, stand out, however, this is only one of the many layers that exist in situations of this type, the others, fortunately, are decided by the viewer, it is not something that I can, or want, to control.
(UM): Could you tell us about any upcoming projects?
(MM): At the moment I am working on another short film where I pay tribute to Andrei Tarkovsky, a very special director for me who also changed my way of understanding cinema. This tribute is a way of thanking him for everything he taught me through his work, convinced of something that he said when someone asked him if he believed he would be immortal, to which he replied, coldly, “yes, of course”. On this occasion, it is a piece that can be considered more complex, due to the narrative that I propose, but which is actually very simple, it is just a very personal vision about art, and life.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.