Some film critics had a tough time with it. The story couldn’t be real. Oh, were they ever so wrong in the summer of
2021 … they hadn’t fully realized the harm that the pandemic was doing and the
damage that TikTok (and other social media platforms) continues to inflict on young
women.
Other critics saw it as dark, even disturbing … a reflection
of certain segments of society.
The filmmaking team of Noah Dixon and Ori Segev absolutely
nailed it with the performance of Sylvie Mix (Obstacle
Corpse, Double Walker) as Lennon Gates, a desperate wannabe
— what kind of wannabe, more on that in a moment — in their film festival
treat, Poser.
Oscilloscope Laboratories announced this past week
that Apr. 18 will be the street for the long-await DVD and Blu-ray launch of Poser. For the record the ARR is a leisurely 319 days.
This indie film opened at the Tribeca Film Festival
in June of 2021 and proceeded to work the festival circuit for a solid year,
with Oscilloscope acquiring theatrical distribution rights in the fall of
2021. An ever-so-brief theatrical
(arthouse) run took place in June of last year (more festival dates) and now it
will be available to a wider audience as home entertainment packaged media product
offerings.
Shot in Columbus, Ohio and immersed in the local
music scene, we meet Lennon Gates, a cypher, a young woman with little talent
who lives in something of an alternate reality as an obsessive pod-cast
influencer who desperately wants to be a part of the local music
community.
Her approach is to “interview” the local bands for
her “Old North” podcast (which she imagines is what the artist community in Florence
during the Renaissance must have been like) and in doing so ingratiates her way
into the “scene.” She is delusional …
she knows nothing, but nonetheless full speed ahead.
Along the way she meets a real talent in the form of
the Bobbi Kitten (aka: Krista Kathleen Botjer, who is playing herself), a local
musician who teams with Z Wolf (aka: Nathan Photos, also playing himself), who
perform as Damn the Witch Siren.
They are the real deal … performance artists,
musicians, songwriters, who even create their own music videos to enhance the
onstage experience. They have their own
recording label as well, Baddest Bitch Records, and, of note, the film score
for Poser is
by Z Wolf and a number of the soundtrack numbers are Damn the Witch Siren
recordings.
This is what Lennon wants; desires. Everything about Bobbi Kitten is what she covets. Bobbi Kitten is, as we mentioned, the real
deal — this may be her film debut, but she dominates the screen and you can
expect to see more of her in the future (she just wrapped director John
Slattery’s Maggie Moore(s)
opposite Tina Fey).
With this dynamic in place, Poser,
becomes a dark, disturbing look at an obsessive wannabe. A young, sexually repressed woman, who sees
the open door to her imagined desires in the form of recording artist Bobbi
Kitten.
Is she dangerous?
Are stalkers dangerous? Or is Lennon
just lost, harmless, desperately alone and completely out of her depth? Apr. 18 with the DVD and Blu-ray arrival of Oscilloscope’s
Poser to
find the answers.
Bonus features include commentary with filmmakers Noah
Dixon and Ori Segev, who are joined by Sylvie Mix, plus there is a “Behind the
Scenes Mixtape,” the “Sylvie Mix and Bobbi Kitten Chemistry Read” featurette
and the Alex and Albany music video titled “The World.”
