By John Larkin
UPDATED: I first wrote about STAGING ANNA back in June of 2023 when it was first completed. It has since made the rounds in the industry and is now having an exclusive week-long theatrical run at the Texas Theater in Dallas, Texas. On September 11th, the 6:45pm showing of STAGING ANNA will be followed by a Q&A with writer/director K.M. Murphy and actor Paul Calderón. Following that is a screening of Abel Ferrara's KING OF NEW YORK, featuring one of Paul Calderon's early supporting turns. Calderón will be in attendance for a post film Q&A for that as well!
I've never really been drawn to the theater, whether in real life or depicted in films - an exception being ME AND ORSON WELLES (2009) , a rarely talked about Richard Linklater coming-of-age film about a young actor getting some major life lessons during his time performing as part of The Mercury Theater group under a young up-and-coming director named...Orson Welles.
STAGING ANNA, written and directed by K.M. Murphy brought to mind that obscure Linklater film from 2009, mostly in how it explores the relationships between the actors in the theater group, both platonically and romantically. In STAGING ANNA, the acting troupe is lead by "The Director" played by Paul Calderón (PULP FICTION, BOSCHE) whose notorious psychological techniques have earned him a reputation in the New York theater scene. He is directing his first play in ten years, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie".
Full disclosure; K.M. Murphy is a close friend of mine and collaborator, in fact I have a small cameo role in STAGING ANNA as "Lighting Technician".
Calderón delivers an exceptional performance, playing favorites with the cast and working his manipulative techniques on a young actor who appears way too green for his world. "Let me guess, you're from the suburbs." he chides at one point. "You give a homeless guy a buck and think you're the goddamn mayor." "The director" may play games but there's a method to the madness and a deeper level to his facade that we discover in a later monologue scene that has Calderón delivering Tarantino-caliber prose. That is, if Tarantino were making a drama about the theater.
Being the setting is a theater stage, it allows for a vast array of interesting lens and lightning choices that give the film an exuberance that you rarely see anymore from young up and coming filmmakers. There is a regular flurry of striking imagery and a rich color palette painted by the cinematographer Michael Mastroserio.
There's a playful quasi-surreal quality to the proceedings that keeps you sucked in but somehow doesn't detract from the realism of what we're experiencing; A general toying with the emotions of his soldiers and stealthily pulling the strings to make his pupils bring out the best of what's inside them and to make his adaptation of the play all the better for it.
I was proud to be associated with this stellar short, which is now having an exclusive oscar-qualifying theatrical run at The famed Texas Theater in Dallas, Texas. If you're in the Dallas area this week, go and check it out!