40 (2009)

A man at a pivotal point in his life: 40-something, still vital and strong yet taking stock, unmasking, and exposing his hopes, passions, vulnerabilities, and regrets. This is the subject of 40, a homage to the late Ken Roy, that follows his journey of self-discovery.

Framed in abstraction and emphasized through extreme close-ups, his body appears, at times, as a fluid canvas of skin and muscle – a familiar yet awe-inspiring sight. Whether submerged in the shadows of an intimate studio space or bathed in a palette of brilliant blue, Roy’s playful spirit and sensuous physicality are accentuated by his highly visual environment. Adding to the effect, a series of whimsical portrait illustrations by artist Pol Turgeon mark the ever-shifting concept of private and public self. As Roy intuitively slips in and out of focus, eluding both viewer and performer of answers, all expectations dissolve.

Inspired by the dance theatre piece Quarantaine 4×4, which features a quartet of middle-aged male dancers, 40 captures the poetic unveiling of one such man at a time of great transformation.

Directed & Produced by: Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer
Performer: Ken Roy
Director of Photography: Zachary Fay
Editor: Marlene Millar
Choreography: Ken Roy and France Roy, under the direction of Charmaine LeBlanc
Music composition: Dino Giancola and Charmaine LeBlanc
Broadcaster: Bravo!/CTV
Produced with the support of: Bravo!FACT

Canada/2009/HD/colour/5:30 min.
Available on DVD, BTC SP, HD

"

Millar and Szporer alternated pin-sharp close-up with hazily diffuse full-figure framing in 40 (2009), exploring the age-altered, body-centred experience of a single male performer.

/ Chirstinn Whyte, filmint., 2009 /

"

Alternative approaches to narrativity, threaded throughout individual programs and composed of what film editor Walter Murch has referred to as ‘unanticipated collisions’, included Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer’s carefully considered portrait of a dancer at mid-life, intercutting a close-in camera journey across freckled expanses of skin with blue-tinged blurring of coolly distanced movement states in 40.

/ Chirstinn Whyte, realtime91, 2009 /