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E.E. Cassidy’s first feature feels like a cult film already. It is decidedly in the vein of Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001) and Rushmore (Anderson, 1998), the great coming of age American independent films with savvy, geeky and ostracised characters, exquisite music, cinematic references which delight film buffs, and quirky art in which sensitive teenagers struggle to find their identity, using art as a mode of expression.
Sadie (Melia Renee) is a timid adolescent who relates to the world through her photographic camera. When she meets Nico (Mary Elise Hayden), an overtly confident mod beauty who sees her foot malformation not as a handicap but as a distinctive trait, she truly starts living. Nico introduces her to the Californian mod scene, to 1960s fashion, music and design, to European avant-garde cinema; to the films of Godard and Truffaut, to Brit pop, drugs, clubs and sexuality. Nico shows Sadie how to have fun but she also encourages her to assert herself and polish her skills as a photographer.
The film’s premise has been explored in seminal films that range from The Graduate (Mike Nichols 1967), If… (Lindsay Anderson 1968), to the mod-oriented Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam 1979). Teenage angst, inconformity and the relationship between two friends, one who is intellectually mature while the other is still too self-conscious, puerile but sensitive, has been examined throughout cinematic history. However, We Are the Mods makes its own contribution to the teenage genre rather than merely gathering references or reproducing stylistic devices (like the unimaginative Napoleon Dynamite did a few years ago, bearing unashamed resemblance to Anderson’s work). Cassidy presents the process of becoming an artist whilst developing a very personal style herself. As she revealed in an interview: “I also wanted to make a film about the pursuit of pleasure and how this can form one’s identity as an artist. I was interested in depicting the validation one feels by following one’s passion.” In this respect, Sadie is a competent photographer but she lacks her own voice. It is until she is exposed to a world she feels part of and until she establishes a strong relationship with Nico that she begins to feel comfortable with herself and her work progresses. The nature of this relationship and the filmmaker’s own sexual preferences have made the film object of the gay community’s interest. Premiering in Outfest, L.A.’s gay and lesbian film festival, it was granted best screenwriting, feature film and soundtrack awards. The film has toured throughout the world’s gay and lesbian festivals.
The Californian mod scene which Cassidy depicts is in itself a revision of the American 1980s mod revival which looked back to the original British 1960s subculture which defined itself through its objects, fashion, music and attitudes: Italian scooters, tailor suits, a neat and tidy appearance, miniskirts, ska and Brit pop, orderly behaviour, a taste for amphetamines, et cetera. Throughout the film scooters are polished, fixed, ridden, and modelled. They are not only objects to be adored but intrinsic components of each character’s personality. With her first Vespa, Sadie begins her journey towards self-exploration and liberation. This however constitutes the film’s bold statement. From its origins, the mod subculture was male-oriented. Cassidy was interested in developing female characters who were not only on the sidelines—beauties without a voice who accompanied the male leads. But rather her interest lay in creating characters with strong personalities who made the action move forward. These virtually unknown actors deliver fresh, youthful and honest performances.
Shot in Super 16mm and then transferred to HD, the film bears the unpolished look of a low-budget independent film. This is not to say it is technically clumsy, it is gracefully edited, with a superb use of music. In its UK premiere at Raindance, the screening was attended by a large mod audience which left enormously satisfied with the portrait of a scene which the director herself was part of.
Raindance has now come to an end but we still have some last news from the ‘indiest festival in the UK’.
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