REVIEWS

THE MANIPULATOR AND THE SUBSERVIENT

Directed by Matthew Saliba
Written by Matthew Saliba
Produced by Matthew Saliba, Brad Kaine

Music by Brad Kaine
Cast: Matthew Saliba, Leela Marcelino, Elias C. Varoutos, John M. Thomas, Danielle Berthiaume, Mark Evin.

2003/11 mins/Color/Stereo
Full Frame/Canada/NTSC Region 1

Review from Director's DVD-R

THE MANIPULATOR AND THE SUBSERVIENT is the directorial debut of underground Montréal based filmmaker Matthew Saliba. Released in 2003, the film focuses around a handful of characters, entangled in a dreamlike world of s&m, spandex-clad Mailmen, and -- squash.

Like both of Saliba's films, they are undoubtedly open to analysis. I have viewed both MANIPULATOR and Saliba's second film PANDORA's PARADOX on numerous occasions, and each time you begin to think -- wait a minute, maybe this could be the explanation, or this is what the symbolism stands for. Simply giving a scene by scene summary of this film without an individual interpretation would be pointless, the same goes for my review of PARADOX, so without intruding too much on the open interpretation of Saliba's films, I will give my adaptation of THE MANIPULATOR AND THE SUBSERVIENT.

This film centers around a young couple and their slave (the subservient, or The Young Man, as titled on the IMDB played by our director). The young couple, "The Stud", and "The Moviestar" make love, and eat meals while the slave obediently waits at bedside, or acts as a footrest for the female character (Marcelino) whilst adorned with a choker and chain. Cut to present day and the slave is now an old man (Thomas), living unhappily with the monotony of his everyday life and non-domineering wife (Berthiaume). On one all too regular day the old man decides to unearth a symbolic squash from the dirt, slice it, and run a steaming bath for it, leaving it to cultivate into his lost love the manipulating movie star. This very same day the Mailman (Evin) brings a package to the couple containing the very same or similar chain/choker the old man once wore in his younger subservient days. Night comes and the old man is awakened from his slumber by a burst of red Susperian light coming from the bathroom -- birthing once more his beautiful master from his squash placenta. She vomits the remaining squash on his face -- one last taste of the past when she was in control of her subservient, giving him a glimpse of when he was truly contented, away from the tedium of an ordinary life as an old man.

I may be way off here, or possibly right on the money -- but really, who cares? I've been able to watch this 11 minute short many times and still get a kick out of it. That is the beauty of a film like THE MANIPULATOR AND THE SUBSERVIENT, without the linear structure, you can take what you want from it and not be wrong because it is your own interpretation. The film is skillfully shot with nice lighting, colors and shadows, and an attention to detail. The 16mm film it was photographed on looks great and one couldn't imagine it captured any other way. With the DV explosion, anyone can pump out a film, good or bad. With a solid script and foundation as this film has, it is good when a director like Saliba takes the extra effort to actually shoot a short on film, and have an attention to detail to create this type of atmosphere with this solid first film.