Stationed At Home (w/ Director Daniel Masciari)

Eli (00:01.23)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot of podcast where we do deep dives and two directors and their filmography. I am your host Eli Price, and we are here on episode 119 of the podcast. Um, uh, as you may know, we kind of wrapped up our Spielberg series with a Spielberg epilogue last week.

And yeah, so we're kind of in a little bit of a hiatus. I still have some episodes that I'm wanting to do kind of spread throughout the end of this year to the end of this year. So yeah, this is kind of a special episode. I didn't anticipate this happening, but I got in contact, reached out to

by Indy Film, a director and his agent to check out this new Indy Film stationed at home. so today I'm going to do a quick review of this film. And I had the opportunity and privilege of interviewing the director, Daniel Masciari, on about this movie and about, you know, his experience as a director.

and a filmmaker and so yeah, I'm excited to get to do this and and really enjoyed this film, so I'm gonna What I'll do is I'll just kind of introduce it give the give a quick review my thoughts on the movie and then we'll transition into that interview with with Daniel and and it was a great interview

great conversation he had some awesome things to say about the movie that I really loved that really kind of like I guess confirmed a lot of things I was like feeling or thinking with the movie so yeah I'm excited to share with you that that conversation with Daniel but

Eli (02:16.683)
Yeah, let's let's talk about the movie. Daniel Moshyari. He's he's an indie filmmaker from Boston or the Boston area. And yeah, this is his first feature film, his debut feature called Stationed at Home. It is shot in black and white and set in the late 90s on a cold Christmas Eve in Binghamton, New York. It follows this taxi driver named Ralph.

played by Eric Bjarneur who was kind of a revelation in this movie. You know, he's not like a well-known guy obviously, but was really great acting in this. enjoyed that. But it follows him, Ralph, this taxi driver on his night shift rounds on this Christmas, cold, cold Christmas Eve.

As he has recurring encounters with this ragtag crew and is anticipating the International Space Station going across the sky into view and so Yeah First of all the the film looks phenomenal. He worked with his DP was Jackson Jarvis and in the interview he talks about his collaboration with him and

It looks really great. I was getting Jim Jarmusch vibes from the movie, not just because of movies like, I'll shoot the Jim Jarmusch film.

Night on Earth, which is also kind of taxi driver themed. But not just because of that, but really like

Eli (04:33.727)
Obviously the indie feel that you get with Jarmusch film you get here, but also just like the visual sensibility, the kind of like there's this kind of dry humor throughout and you're really following these kind of outsider characters that I think you get a lot with Jim Jarmusch. So yeah, which I love Jim Jarmusch. He's...

kind of one of my favorite indie film directors and so yeah I was was kind of locked in to that feel from the get-go because of that and one of the things that impressed me most with this movie and I I talked with Daniel about this later on is the visual language he has a real sensibility for how to communicate with the camera not just with

dialogue of the characters or narration or whatever but communicating with you what he's trying to get across with the visual language. One of the things that we talk about in the interview is the insert shots. There's tons of insert shots of a doll or a nesting doll on a shelf or there's you know when you're in Ralph's home kind of these objects and things that he is placing or grabbing.

Um, you know, his cat, uh, wherever his cat is positioned, um, these ends are insert shots that really like give you a feel for the space you're in the atmosphere. Um, uh, making you kind of like pause and meditate on that. Um, and then just like, uh, I don't know, like, uh, I talk about this transition that he uses to kind of like,

It's a humorous transition that is totally like visual. There's there's not anything being said, but it communicates so much of like, you know, Ralph is scratching off a ticket lottery ticket, and then it cuts to them with this big meal at a diner. And, know, you're communicating like these got this this taxi driver and his passenger are now have decided to share a meal together.

Eli (06:58.381)
You know, you've cut in the edit from him scratching off the ticket just before you kind of see that he's won to that mill. There's so much communicated in that, right? These guys have decided Ralph has decided to share this with with Harry, the other character. It's humorous because they've decided to go have a big meal at a diner with this lottery money that he's won.

It's not a lot, it's like a few hundred probably. It's a scratch off. yeah, just like this communication through visual language, and there's a lot of that. There's a lot of, you know, looking up at the sky and, you know, that theme of remember to look up kind of throughout visually. So I was really impressed with his

ability to use visual language in such a and refined way for a debut film. The other thing I was surprised by was the humor. It kind of had me chuckling throughout the movie. It's not like laugh out loud humor. It's kind of like chuckle-worthy humor that I really appreciated. Some of it is situational. There's this

scene where before Ralph and Harry meet where Harry's kind of talking to his girlfriend trying to have a serious conversation with her and Ralph is in the background getting coffee and it's loud and pouring into his cup and Harry pauses and looks back at him. Kind of situational humor. Some of it's even like slapstick or silly. There's this car chase sequence that's very kind of slapsticky and funny. There's

This moment where Harry gets out of the car after a long ride and the fair is like over a thousand dollars Which is kind of funny They they exchanged glances so I was surprised by like this dry humor that's throughout as well that I that I really appreciated and Kind of enjoyed, you know Another thing with this movie is that the characters and the place feel

Eli (09:24.199)
very lived in and real, which I picked up on that and was feeling that as I was watching it and reflecting on it. And, as Daniel will share, when we get into the interview, his, he really got the inspiration from, just this place, just being in this place in this certain moment. and so it makes a lot of sense now knowing that, and he'll expound on that more when we go to the interview, but.

There's great chemistry between these characters. They feel real. They don't feel kind of like fake. They don't feel like forced. They just kind of feel like they are who they are. They've lived lives. They will live lives after this. yeah, and the place feels very lived in.

you know it was shot mostly I think on location in Binghamton and so yeah I just loved the kind of atmosphere of it. There's one character Jack that's kind of a part of this ragtag crew that Ralph picks up that he wasn't my favorite character. He kind of rubbed you the wrong way.

which I think is on purpose to be fair and then has a moment of like kind of character revelation later in the film where I think you're supposed to feel like more sympathetic for him and it didn't really click with me but really he's the only character like that like I love Ralph the main character obviously I loved him Harry played by Daryl Johnson is really great

The other friend in this crew is George. He's played by Peter Foster Morris, I believe. He was really funny and enjoyable. A lot of side characters that you only kind of encounter in moments. And then there's the guy, this guy Scott Williams, who's the radio DJ that you kind of hear his voice throughout. Great stuff.

Eli (11:46.282)
Daniel even shared that a lot of that stuff was just kind of like improv'd and you know this guy were riffing and sending him stuff and so that the way they edited that radio DJ throughout is really really great. But yeah and then thematically you know there's a lot of stuff going on probably more stuff than I was able to see probably even

It's one of those films where you watch where you're like, I could watch this again and get something more out of it. And that's always a good indicator, right? And so, and you know, I think sometimes too, even as speaking to things that the artist maybe didn't even realize it was speaking to. One of the things I noticed was this.

I don't want to talk too much about these because I talk about some of this with Daniel so I don't want to like reiterate but these like small kindnesses that you see throughout the film a sharing of a quarter a sharing of some toothpick Daniel mentions you know and then it's connected to this you know the International Space Station is going to cross the sky is kind of this thing that you're anticipating and that

Ralph is anticipating this the whole movie and you know you you get that moment eventually but it's yeah it's it's kind of like that international space station kind of represents the interconnectedness of people the bridging division sort of thing and you get that on a cosmic like level in space but you also with that

you know, with that being the thing they're looking forward to seeing, but also in those small moments between characters. And I really liked that. And then, you know, just that theme of always remember to look up is something that you hear kind of a few times throughout the movie and just about that, you know, that connectedness to something greater that you kind of feel through the movie. It's not like that's the good thing about the movie. These aren't things that are like

Eli (14:09.505)
being said necessarily. There are things that you kind of feel and that's what I really love with a movie. I love when I can connect with a movie and I can feel things that aren't necessarily like being forced down my throat. That aren't being like I'm not being told this is how you're supposed to feel. I'm just feeling it along with the characters or with you know with the filmmakers as they're

they're capturing and editing these sequences. But yeah, there's this connectedness to something greater, this longing for something transcendent that you can kind of feel in the movie. And there's a moment kind of late in the film that I absolutely love, that I'm still kind of thinking about and contemplating on, that I talk about with Daniel.

and ask him about. But yeah, I really enjoyed this. I thought it was a really great debut feature film. Looking forward to seeing more from Daniel and whatever he creates next. And so, yeah, but that's enough, I think, of my thoughts on the movie. We're going to transition now to that interview with Daniel Moshyari.

about station at home. And yeah, I hope you enjoy it.

Eli (00:02.353)
Hey, I am excited to have on a, this is I believe your second film from what I saw on kind of a letterboxed IMDb. Okay, first feature, first feature film. Daniel, I should have asked you this before we started recording, pronounce your last name for me.

Daniel (00:15.48)
first feature.

Daniel (00:27.342)
Yep, I'm Messheri.

Eli (00:28.86)
Mashiari, okay. See, I was gonna do the hard K sound and so I'm glad I asked you. Yeah. And so, yeah, Daniel Mashiari and he has a new film, his first feature film, Stationed at Home. It is available to buy and rent now. You can go.

Daniel (00:34.999)
good.

Eli (00:53.96)
hop on Amazon. I'm not sure if it's any other places, but I did see it on Amazon. But yeah.

Daniel (01:00.886)
Yeah, Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango, Dish Network.

Eli (01:03.752)
Great. Yeah.

Yeah, so you can go check it out now, but we're gonna talk to Daniel about his journey to this film and then dig into the film a little bit. So Daniel, thank you for coming on. I'm excited to talk to you about your journey to this film. yeah, I'm excited. How are you?

Daniel (01:32.472)
Good, thank you Eli, really appreciate being here. Excited to talk with you.

Eli (01:36.668)
Yeah. So, you know, you, this is your, your first feature film, but I'm sure this just didn't just like happen. You didn't just wake up and decide one day, you know, I'm going to direct a film now. so I would love to hear, you know, what drew you to, film and made you want to be a director. was it, was it a moment, in your childhood or was it a film you saw or, know, how did you come to this moment?

Daniel (02:07.114)
That's a great question. I guess I could answer it in a number of ways. When I was little, my parents got me this little Canon ZR300 camera because they knew that I wanted to mess around and make films with my friends and everything. So we made some terrible films with that. I always felt like there was a vision that could never be executed when I was little kid. And so I was just tooling around and it became this passion of mine too.

edit films. So I was always shooting things with my friends just to get to edit them because I was, you know, solitary and I could kind of create something on my own. And then it wasn't, you know, a plan to make my first feature film from the get-go. I was working as an editor for 10 years or so. Well, at the time, I guess

Eli (02:51.688)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (03:04.75)
because I've been making this film for like six years, so like five years at the time. And I got this idea for the film for a station at home when I was on a bus from New York City to Ithaca, New York, and we stopped in Binghamton. And it was a cold winter night, and I was listening to this song, Dusk, by Duke Ellington, and something about stepping out and looking at this abandoned train station on a train track.

Eli (03:27.858)
Yeah.

Daniel (03:34.21)
there was some mood that I was just really gravitating to. And the music and the cold, it just inspired the film that is out now. And so I was imagining Eric Bjarne, who plays Ralph, as this lone cab driver, kind of in this forgotten city. So yeah, was, never said, I want to, you know, just make films. I was just, I always made my short films and...

Eli (03:47.89)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (04:01.91)
and this film from the same source of inspiration where I felt the need, like I had to make it. was something existential about that process to me. I'd say that was sort of the motivation for this. That's definitely the motivation for this film and everything I write is there's some yearning inside that it has to be a film. Some idea has to be a film.

Eli (04:27.378)
Yeah, yeah. So how, how do you get from, you know, that kind of like transcendent moment of inspiration to, you know, a script and a crew and like, what does that process look like for you? Where, where, what steps do you take? guess along the way.

Daniel (04:46.83)
I love that question. Yeah, so fortunately, I have I mean, on this film, I just had the best collaborators you could imagine. And with this with this film, I wrote the film with a lot of inspiration from the city of Binghamton and actors that I had worked with before who are just so amazing. So I was able to actually write the parts, most of the characters in the film I wrote for them.

Eli (05:05.297)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (05:14.732)
So I knew the chemistry between them. I knew sort of the vibe that I would get from working with them. And I was really using that as muses, essentially, to sort of get an idea of where the film will go, because I could imagine them as those characters in an interesting way. Some of the characters, didn't have that. for the bulk of the leads, I did.

Eli (05:26.11)
Mm-mm.

Eli (05:37.458)
Yeah, very cool. Yeah, and what I guess like, so when I was watching the movie, there was this moment where I so I really love Jim Jarmusch films. And so there was a moment when I was watching it where I was like, man, I'm picking up some Jim Jarmusch vibes. And so I don't know if it's if it's like a indie another indie director like Jim Jarmusch. But what were your

inspirations like film wise like maybe a director or maybe like a specific film were there any things you had like in mind that kind of like you were drawing from not necessarily like I'm gonna make a movie like this but just like inspirationally.

Daniel (06:23.701)
Yeah, I mean, I have to admit when I was writing the film, I really just felt this. It was almost a myopia. Like I just knew the film I wanted to make. I knew the cab driver was waiting for the International Space Station and I knew the characters that would surround him while I was writing it. So there was no, there was no feeling of, this particular film was inspiring me in that way.

Eli (06:32.22)
Mm.

Eli (06:41.341)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (06:49.096)
Sure.

Daniel (06:51.809)
I'd say like, I mean, when I was little, would watch a lot of oddball films that my parents would show me. Just, they had this, their first date, they saw like The Elephant Man and that film I saw when I was like really young. I saw a lot of Hitchcock films growing up and yeah, and know, Antonioni films as well. So I think these films definitely inspired me. Yeah, I mean, I love Jim Jarmusch as well.

Eli (07:08.744)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (07:21.255)
A lot of people have made the connection with this film, I think largely because of the sort of black and white and you know, Night on Earth is a cab film as well. So I mean, to me, it's like hugely flattering. Although it's like also, you know, I have a lot of admiration for him and these other filmmakers. So it's definitely a funny feeling. And then.

Eli (07:28.188)
Yeah. Right. Right.

Eli (07:35.87)
Yeah.

Eli (07:48.734)
You

Daniel (07:50.368)
And then Kirstami as well. love Kirstami films like Taste of Cherry and Close Up. So yeah, I think these films definitely had an effect on me in terms of how you can take a simple subject or like a simple character even and sort of create a very fruitful sort of place that they exist in and it sort of with a beauty sort of shined on it.

Eli (07:52.958)
Hmm.

Eli (08:19.858)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (08:20.137)
So yeah, I think the inspiration was definitely from just like years of watching films that like a lot of people don't see. that sort of realization that film can really be a poetic medium. So I'd say.

Eli (08:30.023)
Right.

Eli (08:38.834)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, one thing I was going to say one thing I noticed that I really honestly, you know, for first time directors, a lot of times you don't see is the visual language. So a few things that I have in mind are like, there's a lot of

whenever you get to a new setting, you use a lot of insert shots of just kind of like the environment to kind of, you really build like the atmosphere of each new kind of place they end up in by just kind of throwing in some insert shots of some, you know, things on a shelf or, you know, you know, these people over here. And so I really liked that. And then also just like,

There's that kind of more comical visual moment where Ralph is scratching off his ticket and then it immediately cuts to them like chowing down and cutting into their stakes. But it's, you know, how do you envision those communicating in those visual ways instead of having the characters,

Daniel (09:39.277)
Thank

Eli (09:55.48)
dialogue about the atmosphere or you know that sort of thing.

Daniel (09:59.66)
Yeah, I love that question. I think what I'm writing, especially this film, I really wanted to almost slow time down a bit. So there was just this instinct of, you know, just slow down and see what you can find in those textured moments, those inserts. And working with Jackson Jarvis, who's just one of my best friends, incredible DP.

Eli (10:11.603)
Yeah.

Eli (10:20.422)
Hmm. Yeah.

Daniel (10:29.005)
He was involved from the get-go. Like second I sent him my first script, he's like, I want to do this. So we really had fun making sure we got those inserts and the textures of the film, especially because so much of the film is about, you know, the cosmos, right? So we wanted to play with, you know, high angle shots, low angle shots, things that sort of give this connection between the...

Eli (10:41.31)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (10:48.53)
Right.

Daniel (10:58.657)
the ground and the sky. So, I mean, it's very subtle sometimes, you know, like we can, there might be some wide shots where the camera's just ever so slightly tilted up or at a slighter low angle than you'd normally do. And I think it just sort of, we wanted the, you know, the characters in the film, like, especially when they're walking around town, kind of feel like aliens or something on earth where they're just, you know, in this forgotten place.

Eli (11:00.19)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (11:27.115)
So I'm kind of rambling here, but I think the, I love that you picked up on those inserts because I think I love a good insert shot. There's something about it that, I don't know, the audience just gets kind of hypnotized on these like, you know.

Eli (11:27.226)
Yeah.

Eli (11:36.797)
Yeah.

Eli (11:45.01)
Yeah, well it makes sense too because you you talked about being just inspired by this place and a place is like what makes a place have a certain feeling or a certain vibe are those things that you like look around and see when you walk into a new you know a new place or a new room or whatever.

And so I feel like it's it was because you were so inspired by the place it makes sense that you you wanted to capture that vibe by you know giving us those shots those visual shots to help us feel what you I guess were feeling when you were inspired to make it.

Daniel (12:29.452)
Definitely, yeah, think that, and again, like just harping on the insert shots as well, there's something about, you can do a lot with sound too when you're in an insert shot because the whole space of sound opens up when you're just looking at, say, you know, a shot of Duke Ellington in Ralph's apartment, you know, what is that sound? Maybe it's just silence or something like that. So yeah, I think.

Eli (12:41.628)
Yeah.

Daniel (12:57.696)
You know, sound was a huge part of this film and working with Jack Lydon, our sound designer and mixer, we created a lot of really fun sounds together and found a lot of cool ways to give that space of Binghamton its due when it comes to the the sonic world because when you're in Binghamton, because of the architecture is so vast and especially in the winter when it's kind of empty, you can hear, you know, the faintest sound will reverberate.

you know, across the city. It's really beautiful. Like a motorcycle miles away, you'll hear that little vibration if you're in the right spot. yeah.

Eli (13:34.888)
Yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah, it's funny how these small places that no one knows about have such distinct feelings and vibes and unique qualities. I love that. And I really think you capture that well through the movie. I would love to hear what inspired

Daniel (13:59.233)
Thank you.

Eli (14:03.326)
placing this around the International Space Station? I'm assuming you had kind of like late 90s in mind when it was kind of a new, the International Space Station was like a new exciting thing. But what kind of inspired that idea?

Daniel (14:23.54)
Eric Bjarne, who plays Ralph, he, in real life, he loves the International Space Station. And, you know, it was years after he had sort of told me more about it that I remembered that thought that he had put into my mind, you know, this little dot in the sky. And it just felt right. He's waiting for that in 1998, because that's when it first launched. And so,

Eli (14:25.65)
Okay.

Eli (14:39.838)
Yeah.

Eli (14:48.776)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (14:52.672)
To me, it was this perfect example of the most mundane thing in the world, a dot in the sky. Yet it has so much meaning, historically and I think emotionally as well, when someone can look up there and say, for all the troubles people have on earth, there are humans up in the sky right now, flying around and orbiting the earth. Not always people up there, but it's...

Eli (15:21.522)
Right.

Daniel (15:22.944)
There's a magic in that sort of feeling that I always loved. so, yeah, that was, it was Eric's, you know, essentially his passion for this idea and this object in the sky that allowed me to dream a lot about how that yearning to see that could affect the other characters in a way that maybe they don't even know until the end.

Eli (15:50.322)
Yeah, yeah, that's one thing that I was, I was kind of noticing is, I guess the idea of the International Space Station is kind of this, this coming together despite differences. And I saw kind of along with that, very like cosmological idea is the smaller, like tangible idea of like small kindnesses. So like,

And it seemed like throughout the film that was most like the recurring way it was used as like, hey, do you have a quarter? Hey, do you have like any money? And it's these guys who have nothing basically like sharing with each other with these small kindnesses. And I don't know if that was like an intentional connection of like this cosmological coming together despite differences connected with these small

Daniel (16:39.03)
Yeah.

Eli (16:48.318)
kindnesses too.

Daniel (16:50.698)
I love that, I really love that reaction. I definitely wanted to put a microscope to this film, so we're picking up on these subtleties, like the quarter, a toothpick, these little things that somehow have an effect. If he didn't scratch the scratch off there with Harry's quarter, may not have gotten, the whole story wouldn't have unfolded.

Eli (17:04.787)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (17:20.082)
Yeah.

Daniel (17:20.636)
so, so it was Harry's, yeah, it was Harry's, giving nature to give him the quarter because, know, he, he feels like this man is someone he could be friends with, you know, it's those, and I don't know about you, but in everyday life, you know, we could meet, meet someone who, like a cab driver, for example, or someone, you know, working at a convenience store where you have this maybe

Eli (17:33.203)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (17:49.484)
bizarre connection with them that ends there. know, like maybe there's like a chemistry that just ends there. And this film is about, you know, having a moment like that where you're like, there's something there, there's some kind of connection, but taking it all the way to, you know, one whole night.

Eli (17:55.56)
Yeah.

Eli (18:07.421)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, that is a funny thing of like, making those small connections you make with people that you probably will never see again. you know, the, I guess the what if of, you know, what if I had more time to spend with this person? And, you know, you even in the end, you kind of get the feeling like, I feel like Ralph and Harry will cross paths again, you know.

Daniel (18:40.509)
Yeah, yeah, I think that's, that's a I love that, that thought as well, because we were watching it, we had our Binghamton premiere last night, I actually had that similar thought where, you know, I on the one hand, I on the one hand was thinking, well, he's never gonna meet him again. He you know, he's, they've met that night. And then there you go. But there was this bond and this friendship. And again, I got to give credit to these actors.

Eli (18:40.674)
Daniel (19:09.493)
Daryl Johnson in that for Harry and Ralph talking about their dynamic, Harry and Ralph's dynamic. Eric and Daryl just have such great chemistry. I feel like they were always meant to play this role together. They're both kind of like the blues in a way. There's something about them that they can get on that wavelength of mood and Daryl actually describes the film as a haiku in a way.

Eli (19:13.854)
Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel (19:38.636)
you know, a sort of poem of sorts in these subtle moments. And that moment actually in the diner where, you know, it was scripted as Ralph looking out the window and Harry looks out the window to see what he's looking at. But, and then I had written it like Ralph looks to Harry and Harry looks to Ralph and then they both sit back. But they played that moment up a little bit in rehearsal and I loved it where they both kind of go one after the other. It was just a fun moment where

They're both kind of in on something maybe without knowing it. It works very, it's like, you know, in a very, walks a fine line that I like.

Eli (20:12.36)
Yeah.

Eli (20:17.734)
Yeah, yeah, I love that. I also noticed, you know, in the, as the, you know, before the credits role, you know, you said that this was dedicated to your grandfather. And I was wondering if the character of Ralph was kind of influenced by or inspired by him as well. And in what ways that might be.

Daniel (20:44.477)
Yeah, I think, you know, in retrospect, I think, well, there are a couple of layers to this. So one, I grew up watching a lot of films with my grandfather because he would let me stay up late and, know, my parents didn't know about it. And his name was Ralph. And I really wanted him to see this film, but he had passed like a year or two before we shot. So that wasn't possible. And

Eli (20:55.932)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (21:01.191)
Mm.

Daniel (21:13.321)
And he remembers Eric Bionar, who plays Ralph, had come over to my family's place once and visited in Boston, where I'm from. And my grandfather made him meatballs in this Italian sort of tradition. And so the character named Ralph, I think my grandfather had an innocence to him, like a mood of innocence that that name Ralph just sort of reminds me of. There's something very simple about it and something very, to use a synesthetic idea.

Eli (21:25.533)
Yeah.

Eli (21:32.284)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (21:43.274)
Like the color brown sort of just comes to my mind when I think of the word Ralph. Sort of like a very calming, innocent kind of vibe. So yeah, I think in that sense, I didn't name the character Ralph off of my grandfather, but I think that the name came to my mind probably because of a similar feeling I have with that name. So yeah, I think that's about it with that.

Eli (21:47.293)
Hmm.

Eli (22:01.597)
Yeah. Now there's this other character that I was a bit of an enigma for me. It is I'm trying to pull up the Elaine. Is it Elaine?

Daniel (22:12.765)
analysis but yeah I like the question.

Daniel (22:31.701)
Yeah.

Eli (22:32.057)
she, so she rides with Ralph, to this hotel. and there are these sequences throughout the film where you cut to just Elaine and her in the hotel. what was, what was the thought process with that character? cause we ended up spending more time with her, you know, kind of by herself, then

than I expected, I guess, when I first saw her. I would love to hear more about that character and there's kind of this, I don't want to give away too much in this, this kind of surreal kind of moment that she has. Yeah, I'd to hear more about that.

Daniel (23:11.466)
Yeah.

Daniel (23:20.937)
Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, and without giving too much away to the audience. Yeah, I mean, I always felt Elaine was this character who was sort of the city of Binghamton, like sort of the other dimension of Binghamton. You know, I always felt like the city of Binghamton, there's this hyper real kind of quality to it. And then there's this other dimension to it, this timelessness to it. And I always felt like

her character was gonna explore the underworld of Binghamton. So, again, it's hard to talk about this without giving too much away what's revealed. But, yeah, I always thought of her as the spiritual dimension to the film. And I think enigma is the right word, especially how she's...

Eli (23:56.189)
Sorry, I don't know if you can hear me, but I am having trouble connecting for some reason. All right. Hello?

Daniel (24:18.014)
how she's followed.

Oop, did I lose you?

Eli (24:51.113)
Sorry about that. I don't know what happened.

Daniel (24:53.086)
no problem. No, no, no worries. Is it all good or?

Eli (24:58.39)
Yeah, it's still recording. And so we'll just, if you can just start back with your answer that you... Yeah, I was like, man.

Daniel (25:07.818)
There was a moment there I was talking to myself. I'm like, this. No, no, it's all good. It's hilarious. Yes. So I think what was the last thing you heard?

Eli (25:17.289)
So I'm not sure you had really just started to like answer about the character of Elaine and you had started talking about the the two dimensions of the city.

Daniel (25:25.821)
Okay.

Daniel (25:31.282)
Yeah, so the character of Elaine always felt to me like the spiritual part of the film, the other dimension of Binghamton, because I always saw Binghamton as having this reality of 1998, this sort of forgotten city, but then this spiritual timelessness to the city that to me, Elaine was this sort of force. could be in...

Eli (25:46.889)
Yeah.

Daniel (25:58.283)
the late 1800s or the 1960s or something like that. and without giving too much away to the audience, her purpose as an enigma, think, I'm happy that came through because I wanted it to be this question of who is she and seeing it all connect to the adventure of the other characters. I really wanted to tie the surreal, the sort of

Eli (26:15.817)
Yeah, that's really interesting to me.

Daniel (26:27.57)
other dimension of the city to the real in a way that felt natural to the progression of the film.

Eli (26:45.373)
Because when you were talking, I was just thinking, man, I've never really thought about how, you know, we might think about like how we kind of have different sides of ourselves, our like physical side and our more spiritual side of ourselves. But I've never really thought about that as much in terms of like a place, like a place has its physical side, but also this like kind of communal spiritual side to it.

Daniel (27:14.925)
No

Eli (27:15.463)
that you can feel when you go somewhere new, maybe don't know how to explain it, but that's super interesting.

Daniel (27:21.15)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that you're saying that. It's like the idea of the uncanny in a way. You know, that feeling of, whoa. And I actually what's so fascinating too is when I started writing the film, a friend of mine reminded me or I guess I think I had known about it. I'm blanking if I knew about it or if it's the first time I was learning about it, that the Twilight Zone was spawned in Binghamton. That's where the idea came from.

Eli (27:30.884)
Yeah.

Wow, okay.

Daniel (27:53.067)
In fact, Rod Serling's, there's like a high school named after him. So yeah, I think there's something about the city that has this, from the visuals of the buildings and maybe some other aspects to it, but there's something that feels timeless, at least to me. So I think that, yeah, that spiritual dimension of the location was really important to me because

Eli (28:13.481)
Right.

Daniel (28:22.482)
I it in some ways allows the audience to become like almost like be it's like familiar yet not familiar at the same time. So yeah, I'm happy that the audiences seem to pick up on that. And I think Elaine's enigma, her enigmatic quality brings us to that throughout the film. And I don't want to give too much away.

Eli (28:49.534)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's really interesting too about the Twilight Zone because as soon as you said that my mind immediately went to this There's a kind of Christmas themed Twilight Zone episode called the night of the meek I'm not sure if you've ever seen that but I don't know where that was shot, but it has a very like

Daniel (29:06.25)
Awesome.

Eli (29:10.569)
the town has a very similar vibe to, you know, Binghamton and stationed at home. So I don't know, I'll have to look that up after and see where that episode was shot. It's a great Christmas episode. It's one of my brother-in-law's favorite things to watch. He's the one that introduced it to me.

Daniel (29:27.562)
Yeah, no better way to spend your Christmas holidays than watching The Twilight Zone for sure. I love it. Yeah.

Eli (29:40.265)
a Christmas time tradition for him. So, one of the other things that I noticed is this radio announcer throughout the film is talking about different things and it all kind of culminates in this

Daniel (29:40.925)
Yeah.

Daniel (29:44.234)
I'll have to check that out.

Eli (30:10.497)
kind of transcendent moment you know where he's talking about the passing of the International Space Station and and there's this visual moments that I won't explain it in too much detail but of a person like going into a door that you're seeing through a hall and you know into some light

and you know, the, the announcer is talking about, you know, the, the moment where like, we'll say goodbye to the, the space station as it passes through the sky and someone else will be on the other side of the world. We'll be welcoming it. And, it, it really, like, as I was reflecting on that afterwards, it made me think about, how kind of death, can be.

Daniel (30:54.109)
Yeah.

Eli (31:07.205)
not just a moment of loss, but a moment of like passing on a legacy of sorts. you know kind of throughout you see that Ralph is like reflecting on his mother too. And so I was just wondering if that's something that you had in mind of just this idea of death as this kind of like passing on of a legacy and of a tradition and

Daniel (31:14.077)
Mm-hmm.

Daniel (31:36.521)
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, I want to first say to Scott Williams, who did the radio DJ, it's just fantastic. And and he he actually was sending me he was riffing. So like a lot of that he just came up with. So a lot of these even more poetic phrases that he says throughout the film, he was just riffing in his like bathroom and sending me like voice things. And then ultimately, we recorded it properly. So I have to say like the

Eli (31:44.06)
Yeah, it's Yeah.

Daniel (32:05.864)
This idea too of death and the poetic sort of build of the radio DJ was something that we found, a lot of it at least, we found while we were editing the film. Which again, come from an edit, yeah, thank you. Yeah, I come from an editing background. And so to me, I wanted to make sure that as we were in post-production, there was room to heighten things and elevate.

Eli (32:15.617)
Yeah, I love that.

Eli (32:25.033)
the the

Daniel (32:32.679)
things without it being just, you know, just what we shot, just the script. I wanted it to, you know, be able to flow, but still have those anchor points to make sure it all is correct. yeah, I think the, to me, yeah, anyways, yeah, the space station is, again, at least, I mean, I'm probably wrong about this, but visually, as far as we can see humans out there, we're

pretty far out. mean, we're not that far, you know, in terms of the galaxy and the universe, but it still looks like we're getting out there, you know? So, yeah, I always, and again, not to give too much away, but I really wanted to have this idea, you know, not that, you know, heaven or, you know, the afterlife is.

Eli (33:02.437)
Right.

Daniel (33:29.097)
necessarily in another sort of, maybe it's just further out. Maybe it's just in space. I was just an idea. yeah. Maybe the, it's just something we were playing with. Yeah, just like the idea of space, like perhaps it's all out there and I don't know, I'm just riffing right now. People are probably gonna think I'm like.

Eli (33:37.069)
Yeah.

Not as far away as we think kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah

Eli (33:54.827)
Yeah, yeah. No, no, like I love that because I think when we sometimes when like we create things it ends up like we have to reflect on what we've created and you know

Daniel (33:57.319)
I don't know, tripping out or something.

Eli (34:13.811)
think on it and it shows new things to us even though we're the one that made it, you know? And I think that's a beautiful thing about art and creating things. I don't know if you can hear me but I... you have frozen up.

Daniel (34:19.251)
For sure.

Eli (34:49.75)
Sorry Daniel, I cannot hear you. If you can hear me, if you would just refresh your page it should load you back in.

Eli (35:12.073)
Yeah, it was your turn to leave and come back so

Daniel (35:35.551)
that was my hotel's fault. Sorry about that.

Daniel (35:43.207)
Exactly. So sorry, where were we?

Eli (35:44.457)
No worries. That is a good question. I think just our art speaking back to us and showing us new things and I'm not sure if you were gonna say something on that before you froze but...

Daniel (35:50.216)
talking about.

Daniel (35:56.845)
yeah.

I think I was gonna say, I think the black and white also allows for this ability to imagine more than what meets the eye. I think sometimes color, I mean obviously I love films that are made in color, but I think it's a bit more of a hurdle to allow the audience to...

Eli (36:14.889)
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Great. Yeah. So before before we go, I would love to to hear.

Daniel (36:29.372)
go into their own imagination a bit.

Daniel (36:34.3)
So I think that's where I was gonna say.

Eli (36:43.421)
You know, do you have any other like stories that you're like itching to tell? Do you have anything else on the horizon? no, just like a new, new things that you want to make, you know? Okay. That's fair. Great. Great. I'd love, love to hear about the.

Daniel (36:52.346)
Yeah, stories from the making of this or films that I'm

Daniel (36:59.664)
Yeah, I can tell you off air about that. It's sort of, it's in its infant stage.

Eli (37:12.103)
that secretly. Well yeah, one last question before we end. I would love to hear just a recommendation, like something maybe that you've watched recently. It could be new, could be old, that you just loved and want to recommend for other people to see after they watch Stationed at Home.

Daniel (37:12.21)
But I can tell you about it.

Daniel (37:38.011)
Yeah, for sure. So before I forget, yes to all the audience watching this, please, it's so important for independent films and cars, go on Rotten Tomatoes and rate and review it. And Letterboxx, if you haven't, it really helps us get more and more visibility. So.

Eli (37:50.464)
Yes. Yeah, and I'll make sure to link those in the episode description so people can just click on them and go review it.

Daniel (38:02.097)
Thank you.

Daniel (38:06.171)
Thank you so much. but yeah, to a movie recommendation that I've seen recently, there's quite a few. There's this film I absolutely love called Delirious from 2006 starring Steve Buscemi. He plays a he plays a paparazzi guy and not to give too much away, but he takes this young man off the street, essentially to like be his assistant.

Eli (38:19.241)
Okay. Okay.

Daniel (38:35.279)
and the young man has these aspirations to become an actor. And so there's this like real sort of like heated relationship about like how much he owes Steve Buscemi for helping him when he gets some. It's an incredible film. It's a, it's, I can't believe I only had just seen it. It's so good. So I highly recommend that. I love the film, The Passenger by Antonioni starring Jack Nicholson.

Eli (38:39.177)
Okay.

Daniel (39:04.933)
loved that film. Days of Being Wild by Wonkar Wye. It's amazing. So those three for now.

Eli (39:12.828)
Yes. Okay, great. Gary, I got more than I even bargained for, so I'll take it. Well, thank you so much, Daniel, for coming on and talking about your movie. I really enjoyed it, and I hope other people go...

go rent it and then review it and I hope everyone enjoys it too. best of luck to you on your journey with this film and whatever projects you might have coming next. Thanks.

Daniel (39:45.841)
Thanks a ton Eli, really appreciate being here.

Huge thanks to again to Daniel Moshyari for coming on and talking with me about station at home. Like I like I've said,

already on this episode. really enjoyed it. Highly recommend going and checking it out. As we kind of just talked about in the interview, you can rent it and buy it on all the kind of typical Apple TV, Amazon, Fandango at home, think. Just search for station at home. I'll try to link some of those in the episode description. And yeah, please go watch it and go.

Eli (16:27.607)
go rent it and support this film. Indie films are so, they have to work so hard to promote and to get it out there and get it in front of people. And so I'm glad that I have the opportunity to kind of with that with this film that I really enjoyed. yeah, you should go watch it.

And then go review it. I'm going to put the links to Rotten Tomatoes, which is something a lot of people use. And then Letterboxd, of course. So I'll link those so you can go review the movie, rate it. That helps a ton. You know, more than you can know for every little review, every little rating helps a ton.

as know as a podcaster, an independent podcaster. go do that. But that is really, that's really it for the show today. We have a few more things coming out over the course of the rest of the year. They might be, they might not be every week, but I'm gonna try to throw in a few more episodes before the end of the year.

And so be on the lookout for that. I'm hoping I can get a best of the 21st century so far podcast recorded and out next. So that's the that's the plan. You'll find out if that's what happens when you see it in your podcast feed. But but I want to I want to just kind of go through a list of just films that I think represents the century so far. This first quarter of the century.

from 2000 to 2024. And so I'm going to do that and that should be a fun episode. Maybe a Christmas episode that I have in the works coming out at some point. And so yeah, those are a couple of things that you might see in your feed soon. Be on the lookout for those. But until then, I've been Eli Price and you've been listening to The Establishing Shot. We will see you next time.