14/08/2024 - The director tells us about his latest movie, in which everyone is ready for transition

Spanish-born and Estonia-based filmmaker Miguel Llansó follows Crumbs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Llansó
film profile] with Infinite Summer [+see also:
film review
interview: Miguel Llansó
film profile], which had its World Premiere at Fantasia Festival, a tale about growing up. It’s not always easy, especially for girls – even with all the latest technological devices that are supposed to help them enter new levels of consciousness. Get ready for another kind of Cruel Summer.

Cineuropa: You are going “younger” in this film, trying to really reflect what it feels like to be a confused teen.
Miguel Llansó: I grew up in the 1990s. I was getting into the punk scene, but I was super shy – especially with girls. You know this feeling when everything feels new and everything is exciting? We would play in bars and we weren’t even legally allowed to be there! In a sense, this film is a little bit autobiographical, because I used to be so stuck, too. I wasn’t able to communicate very well and it felt like others weren’t paying attention to me. Or they thought I was an asshole [laughs]. 

When you are that young, you play dress up. You commit to it, too: teenage punks I knew always made sure their look was perfect. I don’t commit to much, but I do remember this need to be original and to belong. You want to be different but the same. It’s a schizophrenic feeling. 

The story feels very typical, very recognisable, and then they put on these weird devices: welcome to the world of Extreme Dating. Do you like it when fantastical elements are introduced in films and nobody makes a fuss about it?
I like it when you enter a universe and there’s already something going on. For the characters, it’s what they know. I wanted to play with the tropes of the coming-of-age story, but once these sci-fi elements kick in, it’s like the coming-of-age of humanity. Where are we going? Society-wise, we behave like teenagers, too. There’s definitely humour in the film and I see it as a parody of sorts, but not everybody agrees. 

Maybe because you spoof so many things we know only too well? The wellness craze, dating apps. It feels closer to reality than expected. 
I wanted to work with all these cliches and then mix them up, delivering something different. Existential vertigo – that’s what I was going for. When you look at something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, these questions are already there: Where are we heading, what are we doing? My film is not that serious, but that has something to do with my character. I am much more cartoonish. 

Why did you dedicate the film to your daughter and to your students? Do you see it as some kind of warning?
At first, I was thinking about making a slasher, but there is a punishment for coming of age in these films. In A Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween, the girls are being punished – it's so puritan, because they are just discovering their sexuality and then the monster comes. “You go out, go drink, and that’s what you get!” It’s horrible. As a parent, or as a teacher, I don’t want to tell my students that. I think there is encouragement here: it’s good to have adventures. Be careful, but go for the adventure, always. That being said, I wanted there to be this feeling of something unsettling. 

Were you thinking about Picnic at Hanging Rock? 
Yes! It was one of my references, although I don’t think anyone has mentioned it in any of the reviews. So was Akira and we bought books by Jennifer Doudna about genetic modification and transhumanism, for example. I wanted to have some poetry in this film and evoke many different emotions. 

At the beginning, I was thinking about talking about three guys instead, but this experience is close to me. I started to think: "How could I 'translate' that if I focussed on young women instead?" I didn’t want to make an autobiographical movie – I wanted to explore. My friend Elena helped out a lot. We decided to get rid of any possessive, "penetrative" connotations, even when it comes to that machine. Now, it talks to them, creating a communal space. To be honest, I think of it as a "trans" film – in so many aspects. It’s all about transition and non-binary exploration, which also feels very timely right now. Everything is changing and we have to embrace that fluidity. I think being flexible like that is going to save us at the end. 

You mentioned being “cartoonish” when it comes to your stories. Do you think people prefer it when sci-fi is overly serious, like Dune? Or can they embrace playfulness?
Many of them disconnect. I understand why, as the tone really changes here, but it’s also to show this gap between the world of adults and the world of their children. In my previous films, it was almost like slapstick sometimes. Here, I challenged myself to do something more psychological, more grounded, and then I fucking failed again [laughs]. I am a playful person and I like to play, even though even the film funds prefer these films to be serious. If you look at Ancient Greece, Homer was respected and Aristophanes was always screwed. Comedy is always underrated.