The relationship between a mother and son is universal and has been addressed artistically for centuries, so it’s not easy to say something original. When Dutch-based writer-director Boudewijn Koole took on the subject in his short film “Off Ground” — one of 12 finalists in TheWrap’s 2014 ShortList Film Festival — he chose to eschew words altogether.
Instead, he partnered with choreographer Jakop Ahlbom to make a stark 12-minute movie that says plenty without a word of dialogue. In it, a mother (Louise Lecavalier) and pre-teen son (Antoine Masson) dance on, under, around and with a simple table and chair, all to a spare and frenetic musical accompaniment. Their intertwining, squabbles, separation and ultimate reconciliation offer a world of possible interpretations.
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“We chose dance because we wanted to focus on emotion, rather than conversation,” Ahlbom told TheWrap from the Netherlands where he was working on a new stage play. “We felt it was a way to touch as many people as possible.” “Off Ground” has connected with audiences and judges at several festivals, and won the short film prize at last year’s Movies by Movers competition in North Carolina.
Koole, who was filming deep in the Norwegian hinterlands this week, is an accomplished filmmaker and producer. With his own film company, Witfilm, he’s made Dutch TV documentaries for years. Many of the films are aimed at children, but “Off Ground” was not.
“It’s mainly for adults, although it can be appreciated on a number of levels, so in that sense, children might enjoy it,” said Ahlbom (right in photo with Koole, left). The evocative gyrations of the duo in the film can easily be seen as a metaphor for a generation’s passage, and convey the evolution of emotions faced by mother and child, though they remain all but expression-less throughout.
Taking dance into surprising realms is familiar ground for Ahlbom, who conceived and directed the hybrid dance/pantomime stage comedy “Lebenstaum” (German for “habitat”), which played in Boston earlier this year. It was about the fun that ensues when two inventors create a robotic maid and was greatly inspired by the works of Buster Keaton. “Pure fucking fun” is how one local reviewer described it.
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Ahlbom said he wasn’t sure what movie idea he’d pitch to studio executives, were he to win one of the prizes offered in the TheWrap’s competition.
“I’ve been an actor, choreographer and a stage director, and I’d like to keep growing, so the opportunity to make a feature film would be wonderful,” he said. The project he’s currently working on is a comedic-dance homage to the horror genre.
“That might have potential, wouldn’t it?” asked Ahlbom. Like so much in his artistic world these days, that goes without saying.