Eugene Kotlyarenko’s “Vintage Violence” is a movie that speaks directly to America’s phone-obsessed culture. The kinetic action adventure, which has its world premiere Sept. 12 at Toronto International Film Festival, is about livestreamer Carter Tipe (Cole Sprouse) who stumbles upon a supply of vintage denim in a cave. He’s encouraged by a Japanese fan named Izumi (Kiko Mizuhara) to bring it to her country in order to sell it for a small fortune.
Once there, things get frantic quickly as Carter is on the run from the police, criminals, hustlers and the Yakuza. But “Vintage Violence” feels so modern thanks to its kaleidoscopic visuals. The screen is sometimes bifurcated between Carter’s livestream, which itself gets clogged with fan comments and emojis, and people watching it in Japan.
The camera moves constantly and visual information — lights, split screens, colors, sounds, movement — floods the viewer. It feels like a film working to speak to an audience that grew up with second-screen culture, used to scanning their phones as they’re watching a film or show. Kotlyarenko, whose previous film was the similarly internet-minded 2020 thriller “Spree,” says the online style was essential for the story he wanted to tell.
The lure of social media and video games, it’s active immersion rather than passive like cinema. So I thought it’s very important, grammatically, because these screens are so dominant, to figure out ways to aesthetically integrate them into cinema language, but also grapple with this new approach to viewing, which is so scattered, schizophrenic and all over the place. The challenge and the joy is figuring out how to guide and direct people on where to look, how to look, when to look.” Even though Kotlyarenko’s technique is extremely modern, he is comforted by knowing that some of cinema’s greats are also into pushing visual and tech boundaries.
So I’m looking to what’s cool about how the masters think about stuff and then trying to put my own energy and spin on it.” Another important visual element came from nodding to Japanese film culture, as so much of the movie was shot there with a local crew. Kotlyarenko, along with his DP Sean Price Williams, was able to experiment in the footsteps of Japanese cinema legends. I’ve got Steadicam for a couple of weeks,” he says.
I’m ready to move around and make it pop. The language of the Japanese filmmakers I love is very dynamic. When I think about Imamura or Ōshima or Miki or Obayashi, they’re constantly experimenting with different techniques within the same picture.
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