London Film Festival 2014. ICA Cinema, 12/10/2014
Butter On The Latch is Josephine Decker's debut feature and one of two films she brings to this year's LFF, the other being Thou Wast Mild and Lovely. Completely different in style to TWMAL, Butter documents the ups and downs of the friendship between Sarah (Sarah Small) and Isolde (Isolde Chae-Lawrence) as they participate in a Balkan folk music festival in the Californian forest. Their dynamic is disrupted by the appearance of Steph (Charlie Hewson) and tensions with Isolde rise as Sarah and Steph become closer.
As in TWMAL we have often abstract cinematography, but in this case it is more abstract and less story driven, given the minimal plot and only three main speaking parts. The effect is suitably disorientating given the whirlwind of emotions between Sarah and Isolde. The improvised dialogue is believable, and the real life music festival backdrop punctuates the swirling torment with diverting musical and dance interludes. Like in TWMAL Decker leaves many gaps for the audience's imagination to fill.
It will be interesting to see whether the differences between Decker's two films here are an indication of her future direction. Personally I prefer the more narrative-driven style of TWMAL, which manages to entertain without losing the impressionistic edginess. Kudos to both director and Sarah Small for an informative and inspiring Q+A after the screening.
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