The Political Films of Theodore Collatos
Tormenting the Hen, Theodore Collatos (2017)
Playwright Claire (Dameka Hayes) and her fiancée Monica (Carolina Monnerat) leave New York City for an unspecified rural town, after Claire has been invited to stage her play at a local theatre company. Sarah (Josephine Decker), the host of the artists retreat where Claire was invited to workshop her work, picks them up at the train station. Close ups of the three women inside the car reveal much about the characters' perceptions of each other, and notable differences between them in terms of subjectivity, sensitivity, and, fundamentally, identity. This tension, and the subtle daily forms of violence and overt aggressions these differences set in motion, comprise one of the central themes running through Theodore Collatos's film Tormenting the Hen (2017).
With a keen eye and low-key approach, Collatos explore the strains that the presence of two queer women of color—Carolina is Brazilian—generate in a hostile environment that, by definition, should be open and inviting. Claire, lucid and assertive, is staging a play about masculinity in all its possibly toxic narcissistic turns. The male two actors, one white and one black, don't cease to question the way their characters are written, doubting Claire's ability to understand their supposed complexities. What their attitude actually reveals is who still holds the privilege of the word and how difference disturbs that established privilege. That the recognition of this New Yorker black female author is enough to grant her a workshop retreat, but her identity and experience are simultaneously devalued as a source of creative authority, establishes a begiuling paradox. These men feel entitled in multiple ways—from criticizing the play to hitting on Claire, an open lesbian.
Tormenting the Hen, Theodore Collatos (2017)
Monica's encounters with Mutty (Matthew Shaw), the house groundskeeper, are not better. Unable to listen, Mutty literally invades Monica's space on every occasion. There is something uncanny and menacing about him, enforced by the natural landscape. On top of all the hostility these two women face, Monica must deal with the difficulties of being foreign, and all the stereotypes attached to it. Collatos subtly explores the vicissitudes that this specific type of "other" faces when placed in a radically different environment she has to decode. At the same time, both women have different positions regarding their own relationship, and what constitutes intimacy and privacy. What appeared to be a vacation for Monica, the romantic escapade she had in mind, turns into a nightmarish experience.
Tormenting the Hen's narrative depth is supported by a well-crafted screenplay. Each scene is built with precision, with remarkable economy in the dialogue. Excess comes from the characters’ personalities and their skin-deep sensitivities, which are always on the brink of explosion. The casting choices underline the complexity of these characters and the contrasts between them. Matthew Shaw's Mutty is mysterious, clumsy, and frightening. A final revelation about him does not appease the fear he arouses in both Monica and the audience.
Uneasiness and anxiety are trends also present in Collatos previous feature, Dipso (2012). Here, Matthew Shaw magnificently portrays Tommy, a recently-released prisoner. Sharp-witted and ingenious, Tommy nevertheless fails in his attempts to succeed in stand-up comedy. Trying to stay clean, he makes a real effort to reconnect with a previous girlfriend, friends, and family—with limited success. There is a tenderness to this character, who seeks to keep going with his life in a world that does not include him, ultimately leading him back through the same tortuous paths that landed him to prison.
Dipso, Theodore Collatos (2017)
In Dipso, Collatos approaches many of the standard topoi of out-of-jail narratives, but from different angles. The chemistry among an ensemble of non-professional actors contributes to a realist narrative that equally displays humor and despair. This blend makes Dipso a sad but truly light film. It also places the director in a particular position within American independent cinema, insofar as Dipso refuses to visit the places common to that scene. The film eschews heavy dialogues, neurotic middle-class characters, and Brooklyn apartments.
Collatos's inventiveness is present once more in Queen of Lapa (Rainha da Lapa, 2019), his most recent project which he co-directed with Carolina Monnerat. This documentary explores the final years of Luana Muniz, an actress, performer, activist, sexual worker, and transvestite who runs a pension where other transvestites work and live in the bohemian Lapa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The film examines intimacy, communal living, and the vicissitudes and violence these individuals face with affection, highlighting Luana's public and private personae, establishing her as an extraordinary character within Rio's urban landscape.
Queen of Lapa, Theodore Collatos & Carolina Monnerat (2019)