Mental attraction
Dave Jaffer
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Celine (Leslie Kendall) enters a surprising relationship
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Two unstable characters find love (and bloody disaster) in Body/Antibody
Body/Antibody has already captured audience awards at the Rhode Island and Brooklyn International Film Fests, and it's pretty easy to see why crowds have warmed to it: It's your classic boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, hijinks-ensue film. Except that the boy is an obsessive/compulsive shut-in whose entire life transpires inside of a germ-free, hermetically sealed apartment, and the girl - who comes with some problematic baggage - wrecks his life by being neither obsessive nor compulsive. Oh, and there's blood too, making it a thrilling film noir/romantic comedy - a rather untraditional cinematic mélange.Compulsively tidy Kip Polyard's bacteria-free life never gets compromised by other organisms until Celine (Leslie Kendall), the sexy organism next door, makes his little germophobic heart go pitter-patter. When their unlikely and awkward romance blooms, Celine's vile and sadistic ex Andy (Frank Deal) forces himself back into her life to further complicate things. He wants them to both suffer, but for decidedly different reasons.
To create Kip (played by Robert Gomes), writer/co-director Kerry Dye borrowed from his own life. "Parts of the movie that involved extremes of violence, or, unfortunately, some of the sexual parts of the movie, were fictionalized," he explains. "Some of Kip's tendencies and his obsessive/compulsive nature were based on my own life. It's something
I've sort of had with me since my teenage years."Body/Antibody is quite compelling, especially visually. Its stark whiteness injects a palpable sense of order and cleanliness to the proceedings, which is of course sullied by a claustrophobic and bloody third act that exposes how base our darker desires really are. Think you've seen every motivation for murder? Just you wait...
Body/Antibody
At the Montreal World Film Festival
www.ffm-montreal.org
