PARK CITY, Utah (AP) 鈥� plays a mother in the midst of a breakdown in the experiential psychological thriller 鈥淚f I Had Legs I鈥檇 Kick You.鈥�
Anticipation was high for the A24 film, which will be released sometime this year. Its premiere Friday at the was easily the hottest ticket in town, with even ticketholders unable to get in. Those who did make it into the Library theater were treated to an intense, visceral, inventive story from filmmaker Mary Bronstein that has quickly become one of the festival鈥檚 must-sees.
Byrne plays Linda, who is barely hanging on while managing her daughter鈥檚 mysterious illness. She鈥檚 faced with crisis after crisis, big and small 鈥� from the massive, gaping hole in their apartment ceiling that forces them to move to a dingy motel, to an escalating showdown with a parking attendant at a care center. The cracks in her psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing are become too much to bear.
鈥淚鈥檇 never seen a movie before where a mother is going through a crisis with a child but our energy is not with the child鈥檚 struggle, it鈥檚 with the mother鈥檚,鈥� Bronstein said at the premiere. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a caretaker, you shouldn鈥檛 be bothering with yourself at all. It should all be about the person you鈥檙e taking care of, right? And that is a particular kind of emotional burnout state that I was really interested in exploring.鈥�
Byrne and Bronstein went deep in the preparation phase, having long discussions about Linda with the goal of making her as real as possible before the quick, 27-day shoot. Byrne said she was obsessed with figuring out who Linda was before the crisis. The film was in part inspired by Bronstein鈥檚 experience with her own daughter, but she didn鈥檛 want to elaborate on the specifics.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 her story to tell,鈥� Bronstein said.
Part of Linda鈥檚 story involves her therapist, played by , who joked that he didn鈥檛 realize he was in a movie.
鈥淚鈥檓 not looking out for movie scripts or anything. But when I got a call from A24 that they wanted me to read something, I鈥檓 not stupid,鈥� O鈥橞rien said. 鈥淚 showed it to my wife, who is one of the smartest people I know, and she read through it and she said, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 know they made movies like this anymore.鈥欌��
He was particularly in awe of his director and co-star, saying he felt like a fraud standing beside them.
鈥淚t was an amazing experience, one of the best experiences of my life, just to be with them and watch them work,鈥� O'Brien said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how (Byrne) did that and not check into a hospital afterwards, because I haven鈥檛 seen any actor, man or woman, sustain that level for an entire movie.鈥�
鈥淚 feel like I have to go to a hospital now, because this was the first time I watched it,鈥� he added. 鈥淚鈥檓 a mess.鈥�
also co-stars, as a man Linda meets at the motel, but was not in Park City for the premiere. He is currently , charged with firing a gun at a former friend.
The film is full of ambiguity, metaphor and just plain artistic expression that Bronstein hesitated to explain, from the name itself to the hole in the ceiling, which takes on a somewhat supernatural quality.
鈥淲hen we have nothing left to give, we have an emptiness inside of us,鈥� Bronstein said. 鈥淎nd that emptiness is actually not empty: It鈥檚 filled with all the darkness and self-hate and doubt and fear and dread and regret and everything. 鈥� That to me is what the hole is.鈥�
Some of it, she said, she doesn鈥檛 even fully understand. The point is the experience, and critics and Sundance audiences are already fully on board.
Bronstein, a bit of a cult figure in the film world, made her directorial debut in 2008 at the SXSW festival with 鈥淵east,鈥� which featured a pre-fame Greta Gerwig and was hailed by by New Yorker critic Richard Brody as a 鈥渕umblecore classic.鈥�
鈥淚f I Had Legs I鈥檇 Kick You鈥� is only her second feature.
鈥淭his is the first time that anybody else has paid for me to make art,鈥� Bronstein said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud to say that this is the film that came directly from my head to the screen.鈥�
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Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
