Exciting news this morning as Kyle Edward Ball, the writer-director of
Skinamarink an MNPP-approved fave, has
announced his new movie! There's not a lot of specific news to share except it's going to be called
The Land of Nod and -- in a huge step up from the itty bitty indie cred of
Skinamarink -- it will be for A24! (And Elijah Wood as well with his production company SpectreVision.)
Here is my review of
Skinamarink from way back in the day -- I was one of the first critics to review it and I became somewhat obnoxiously relentless in my pushing of it even though I knew it wasn't for everybody, and uhhh a lot of people sure said so. It's not often you see something that feels so fresh though, something which taps into something so primal in you, and
Skinamarink did that for me tenfold. I was lulled into a trance and found the ultimate experience deeply terrifying. Anyway no idea what Ball will go for this time out (although he has spoken about projects he was working on before,
read that here) -- all we have info-wise right now is that title
The Land of Nod, which is a Biblical reference;
via Wiki:
"The Land of Nod is a place mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "on the east of Eden", where Cain was exiled by God after Cain had murdered his brother Abel. According to Genesis 4:16:
"And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."
... Nod is said to be outside of the presence or face of God. Origen defined Nod as the land of trembling and wrote that it symbolized the condition of all who forsake God. Early commentators treated it as the opposite of Eden (worse still than the land of exile for the rest of humanity). In the English tradition Nod was sometimes described as a desert inhabited only by ferocious beasts or monsters. Others interpreted Nod as dark or even underground—away from the face of God. Augustine described unconverted Jews as dwellers in the land of Nod, which he defined as commotion and "carnal disquietude".
A fertile reference, that! I remember the phrase from my childhood spent in Sunday School but a lot of the further inferences go beyond my kiddie-learning. You could go pretty much anywhere from there, but to be honest just some of those descriptions -- the opposite of Eden, a place with its face turned away from God -- give me goosebumps, even though I'm an long-time atheist now. Anyway one imagines this will be very different from Skinamarink -- there's not going to be a need for that film's no-budget aesthetic this time out obviously! But I have a feeling Ball will use what he learned there and maintain some of his voice, even into a bigger production. His voice felt so assured to me already -- I want more! Cannot wait! Also of import (since we're here) -- Ball is a queer filmmaker, which gives Skinamarink an even more interesting underbelly once you know that; can't wait to see how that sorts itself out in his future work.