"I've always said the greatest love affair is the relationship between film and music," muses D.W. Waterson. "When you have a great sync and you have a great scene and they start to work together to make each other better, it can impact generations of people."
In Waterson's own career, the nonbinary director and musician has never had to choose between movies and music. They attended film school in Toronto, where they also began their career as a touring drummer and DJ. "I feel like they really lend to each other. I've learned a lot from DJing that lends to my directing ability, and vice versa," Waterson says. "At the end of the day, it is all about catching a vibe and trying to get a group of people on that same vibe to go on a journey with you."
Waterson's feature debut is Backspot. It's the sort of film that they wish they had seen growing up in their "very Canadian, very hockey" household: A high school drama about a queer cheerleader (played by Devery Jacobs) where the conflict doesn't center on her coming out. Instead, the movie focuses on mental health in the world of competitive sports.
"We haven't seen a cheer film that really shows how hard it is. It doesn't help that they're wearing bows and glittery outfits, but there's not enough respect being put on cheerleaders' names," says Waterson, who also composed an electronic score for Backspot. "I'm really attracted to campy worlds and misunderstood worlds, and getting in there and grounding them and showing the grit. Of course, having a great soundtrack and kickass montages is also a part of my [signature] style."
Below, Waterson shares with A.frame their five favorite films, including the coming-of-age sports movie that they did see as a teenager that made them want to become a filmmaker in the first place.
Written and Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Café de Flore is my favorite film of all time. Jean-Marc is such an incredible director. I remember seeing this at the world premiere at TIFF. I didn't really know what I was in for; I just knew I loved his first film, C.R.A.Z.Y. I remember being in this big theater and I was towards the front, and I looked behind me and saw all these A-list directors like Gus Van Sant. I remember thinking, "What a special moment in time."
That film was such an experience. I feel like it imprinted on my soul and continues to educate me on how you can tell stories visually. There's also the DJing aspect of it. Jean-Marc edits his own films, and I cut Backspot, and there's such a musicality to that. So, it was such an education, and it's just a beautiful film. Then afterwards, because I used to work at that venue, I grabbed Jean-Marc's name tag that was on his chair and I followed them out the back door and asked for him to autograph it. He was very sweet. I still have it!
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha | Written by: Paul Mayeda Berges, Guljit Bindra and Gurinder Chadha
I remember renting this from Blockbuster on a Friday night and thinking, "Ooo, a soccer movie. So fun." It was the first time I've ever re-watched a film right away. I got to the end of the film, and I loved it so much that I went back to the DVD menu and press played again. I was like, "How did this film impact me?" Not only was it entertaining and had great music, but it is just so well done, so well directed, so well acted. I started taking notes. That was the first time I tried to break down story, and tried to figure out how a director's brain works, and how a writer's brain works.
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky | Written by: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
I love Aronofsky. I also saw Black Swan at the TIFF premiere, and there was so much buzz about that film and about Natalie Portman in it. I remember lining up for an hour and a half so we could get good seats. The crazy thing is, going in, you don't have a poster, you don't have a trailer. You have no idea what ride you're about to go on, or how dark things are going to go. So, it was a very jarring but incredible experience. I remember getting to the Winona part, where she starts stabbing herself in the face, and the whole theater was like, "Are we being stabbed?" The experience was so visceral. That was awesome. It's also in the sports world and a genre film — a psychological thriller — which I love.
Written and Directed by: Floria Sigismondi
I don't even remember where or how or when I saw this film. But it was so good that I felt like I was in the movie. Like, Kristen Stewart's right there, and Dakota Fanning's right there. I'm such a big fan of Floria Sigismondi and how she brought this story of the first ever rock girl group to light with such grittiness. You could see all of her experience directing music videos with The White Stripes and how that bled into the film. It was incredible, and it's a film that I've rewatched many times.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg | Written by: Zak Penn and Ernest Cline
Controversially, I think Ready Player One is Spielberg's best film. I love Hook and he obviously has so many great films, but it's like, he was able to do what he was doing with E.T. and Jaws, but now he had the technology behind him to let us into the full Steven Spielberg visual experience. There are just so many cool shots and brilliant storytelling in that one.
I saw it opening night in IMAX, in 3D, and it was such a great combination of everything that Spielberg's great at, which is this childhood kind of wonderment. And then to play in this world was incredible. The graphics are incredible. It's my most rewatched movie, and I just think it's underrepresented.
