BRUCE CHARLESWORTH
ALL THIS IS YOURS
FILM AND VIDEO
Production still from All This Is Yours
ALL THIS IS YOURS is a dark, comic feature-length film in progress. The film's narrative arc spans a workday in a government agency in a fictitious police state circa 1968. The film is not meant to be specific to that time in history, nor is it about a particular real-life autocratic or authoritarian society. Most of the characters speak American-accented and idiomatic English. Period details are accurate to the late sixties, but with anachronistic contemporary elements woven through the scenario. These are meant to remind the audience of the present day and spark contemplation of potential dangers in our collective future.
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Most of the characters in All This is Yours are victims of an insidious status quo, although they are complicit to varying degrees. Their jobs are primary, so their character names are the same as their work identities: Salesman, Manager, Nurse, Security Guard, Commandant, Janitor or Job Applicant. Although this implies a layer of anonymity, the characters are hyper-distinct from one another, each with their own physical attributes, modes of dress, carriage, motivations, obsessions, blind spots and degrees of concern.
In most of Charlesworth's films and videos with larger casts, there is no obvious protagonist. Characters are often followed in turn by the camera until they intersect with someone else, who then pulls the narrative in a different direction. It’s a taxonomic structure with potential linkages to all characters. Since there no clear-cut central protagonist, there is a sense that the viewer is a stand-in or witness. The force propelling the characters forward seems seems at times to be an aloof, ephemeral presence, but it is more likely a fanatical work ethic or plain fear.
All This Is Yours suggests an Eastern Bloc world with its severe architecture and institutional décor. There is a similarity to interiors from Charlesworth's other projects, in the color choices, patterns, details, exaggeration of scale and sculptural use of space. All This Is Yours folds back on itself, maintaining a precarious balance as it addresses the relationship between human beings and architecture, and juggles issues of conformity, individuality, oppression and resistance.
A preview video:
All This Is Yours (preview), digital video, 3:48
Script, Direction: Bruce Charlesworth
Production Manager: Shannon Hogan
Camera Assistants: Daniel Kelly, Sean Kafer
Wardrobe: Anna Helgeson
Lighting: Garrett Katerzynske
Fabrication: George Jirasek
Production Assistant: Kellie Bronokowski
CAST: Catron Booker (Controller), Brian James McGuire (Lieutenant), Heather Warren-Crow (Manager), Khynh Pham (Assistant), Skräuss (Salesman), George Jirasek (Janitor), Daniel Kelly (First Job Applicant), Flora Coker (Tea Attendant), Emir Cacaroz (Commandant), Dusty Volmer (First Guard/Valet), Gregory Jacobson (Second Guard), Carl Bogner (Super), Julie Wolterstorff (Visitor), Garrett Katerzynske (Monster), Shannon Hogan (Nurse), Ken Wood (Customer), Stephanie Erbes (Lab Technician), Renato Umali (Deliveryman), Susan Abrahamson (Second Job Applicant), Heidi Spencer (Mail Sorter), Bill Skaleski (Runner), Isaac Brooks (Truck Driver)
This film is dedicated to the memory of George Jirasek and Ken Wood
See the related installation project