Review: Suspension
Interview with Sci Fi Thriller Director Ethan Shaftel
Hollywood has danced with time for years. TV shows like Star Trek introduced savvy viewers to the idea of the space-time continuum. More recently, films like Click with Adam Sandler, The Butterfly Effect starring Ashton Kutcher, and the Back to the Future franchise with Canadian Michael J. Fox, have examined time travel and essentially ask, what happens to someone’s life if they have the ability to tangle with time?
Into this well-mined vein comes Suspension, released on DVD by Warner Home Video this week (May 27). The science fiction film is directed and produced by Kansas native Ethan Shaftel with Alec Joler (co-director/co-cinematographer), and Aris Blevins (writer/producer). The indie film is a funny and, at times, disturbing look at stopping and restarting time.
It’s also about a man’s journey from mourning to madness. The film begins with a car crash. A man wakes up in hospital and is told his wife and son didn't survive the accident. That character, Daniel Bannet (Scott Cordes) returns to the sad walls of his home and faces his future alone.
One day, he examines his son’s video camera, which was recovered from the scene of the accident. As he watches the footage he discovers the camera has a strange power. When he presses the pause button the world around him – a dropped plate hovers; a tossed ball is suspended – comes to a stand still.
Daniel, as portrayed by Cordes, is quietly devastating. He has the power to stop time but alas, never to turn it back to the moment of the crash when he lost everything. So he sets about to ‘fix’ everything else. In particular, Daniel becomes obsessed with Sarah Caine (Annie Tedesco), the widow of the man who died in the other car.
His sympathy for her turns to stalking. He stops time so he can enter her house, examine her things, and see how she lives. He stops time so he keep track of who she's hanging out with. He stops time so he can watch her in the shower.
The filmmakers have done the festival circuit and had warm receptions at the 2007 Kansas International Film Festival, the 2008 Sedona International Film Festival, and the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film. Suspension also won the “Spirit of Independents” Award for best science fiction film at the 2007 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Suite101 caught up with Shaftel in Los Angeles where he was editing the background graphic content for an Usher show to be broadcast on BET.
Interview:
Amber Nasrulla: Who did you base Daniel on? He’s a richly portrayed character – sympathetic and approachable. An everyman.
Shaftel: In a weird way [there are] elements of my father, grandfather, and uncle. Specifically, Daniel is someone who says to himself, “If I don’t do it right I shouldn’t do it at all.” When he goes and steals money, he doesn’t go to a bank and steal from a teller. He thinks to himself, “I’m going to put on a backpack and take water and I’m going to do this big job by harvesting single dollar bills from people all over the city.”
Nasrulla: Because he has to remain sympathetic?
Shaftel: He’s a man and he has a sense of responsibility for the world. It’s his idea that, “I know what’s best for them even when they don’t.” There’s a time when as a parent you let go of that [but] he’s taken on Sarah’s life and her safety and happiness onto his shoulders. In the name of responsibility he tries to take care of her.
Nasrulla: The camera's power does begin to corrupt him... He's convinced he knows what's best for her.
Shaftel: That responsibility isn’t evil in any way. From Daniel’s view, [Sarah] is like the lost puppy that got out of the yard. He has to find her for her own safety.
Nasrulla: If you had that camera, what would you stop?
Shaftel: [Laughs] If only we could hold the sun for just a second! While shooting, I would have day dreams…these fantasies that were happening every moment of every day. I wanted to stop time just to make the movie better. [Laughs again]. It’s your obsession at the time.
