Winnipeg writer-director Sean Garrity saw out 2012 in fine style. In November, he became the first filmmaker to have two features My Awkward Sexual Adventure and Blood Pressure nominated for the Whistler Film Festivals coveted Borsos Award in the same year. While he ultimately didnt walk away with the award, he received an enviable consolation prize in early December when the former film landed on Canadas Top Ten, an annual list of the countrys best cinematic offerings.
Garrity hasnt rested on his laurels in 2013. In fact, promoting two separate films has offered him little opportunity to rest at all. After a spring theatrical run, My Awkward Sexual Adventure hits DVD on July 9. Meanwhile, Blood Pressure has graced screens at festivals in Shanghai, Beijing, and Paris, while playing limited runs across Canada.
The director will personally escort his latest film to the Vancity Theatre and stick around for a Q&A at its June 28 debut.
While the raunchy-yet-endearing Sexual Adventure marked a departure for Garrity his previous film, Zooey & Adam, detailed the aftermath of a rape the moody Blood Pressure seems right in his wheelhouse. The film finds Nicole (Michelle Giroux), a despondent pharmacist, receiving letters from an anonymous admirer. With her consent, he lavishes her with odd gifts, including martial arts courses and firearms training. In return, he asks that she monitor the activities of a stranger (Jonas Chernick). Unsurprisingly, the plot thickens and things get stranger still.
Speaking from Toronto, Garrity agrees that simultaneously tackling a raucous sex comedy and a slow-burning thriller proved a unique experience. Furthermore, the dual projects allowed him to maintain some equilibrium. When Im just doing one film, I can get overwhelmed by the tone, he confesses. Particularly in the case of something like Zooey & Adam, which is so intense. Constantly doing that one thing can be emotionally draining after a while.
Despite considerable tonal differences, Garritys latest films both concern characters who are unceremoniously shaken from their complacency and left to discover a newfound sense of empowerment. For his part, Garrity sees both features following in the footsteps of his previous work. The thing I see in common with them... the thing I bring to a film, ideally... is a sense of trying to find some sort of painful vulnerability in a character. He laughs. Bringing that to a thriller was much easier than bringing that to a comedy.
Charged with portraying the painful vulnerability of Blood Pressures Nicole is Giroux, who the director discovered completely by accident. Convinced that a higher profile actress had locked up the role, he invited Giroux a veteran of the prestigious Stratford Shakespeare Festival to run lines with an actor auditioning for another part. He recalls, When she came in, she just brought such depth and intelligence to that character. Shes so well spoken and careful and methodical in the way she communicates. She really takes time to stop and think on camera, which I really, really like.
Communication, of course, plays a major role in Blood Pressure. As Nicole becomes more taken with the letters from her mysterious confidant, his writing spills off the page (courtesy of understated digital effects) and literally becomes her world. There is something to it that I was exploring... Exploring in a sense that I dont really have a statement on it in one way or another, he suggests. You get a letter and its something that you show to people. Oh my god. I got an actual letter from someone. There is something to be said for taking the time and focussing on the communication.
Blood Pressure plays June 28-July 4 at the Vancity Theatre.
