Entropic
Shooting in 2018, Entropic is Frictive's biggest endeavor so far. Adapted from R. W. Gray's short story of the same name, and recipient of Telefilm Canada's Microbudget Production Grant, Entropic tells the story of the most beautiful man in the world, who, sick of being objectified, devises a plan to free himself of others attention. It is Frictive Pictures' first feature film.
All images are concept images and are not from the film.
R. W. Gray's has directed several short films that have appeared in festivals around the world and received acclaim. "Zack & Luc," "aidos," and "Choke Hold" all garnered wide festival play and accumulated multiple awards. "Entropic" is his first feature film as a director.
Director's Statement
The protagonist, Aaron’s journey in Entropic is from a superficial and fantasy-based world to an unbearable encounter with his own vulnerable depth. Aesthetically I see this shaping shots that are at the beginning of the film more close up, fetishistic and fragmented. We will only see the beautiful man in glimpses. We never know his name. We never fully identify with him beyond the pieces the camera objectifies. This will offer the audience the opportunity to project their own fantasies and engage in their own game of objectification.
This is essentially a psychological film; the camera and shots will stick close to Aaron so that the audience experiences the isolation of this mostly introverted character. Inspired by the aesthetic of Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman or Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, this intimacy will make the audience’s experience of Aaron’s journey profoundly intimate and at times necessarily claustrophobic. This will permit a strong identification with Aaron’s internal struggle to overcome his own self-imposed prison, the possibility of moving from an initial desire to a more pressing claustrophobia that will win out if Aaron fails to stop objectifying his beautiful friend.
With each challenging experience, Aaron is presented with the opportunity of letting go of this more fetishistic way of seeing the world. By the end of the film, he will be able to see the beautiful friend as he truly is and this will define a more realistic aesthetic, with wider shots and the chance to actually see the man as a whole.
In terms of the content, the film will imply and allude to what the various people do when they spend time with the beautiful man. The paradox of how Aaron sees the world is that he does not see what is actually happening; he is always at a distance, even when he is the sole witness. Everything that happens to Aaron and his friend will be more powerful because it is, to some extent, left to the imagination of the audience.