Filmmaker Will Goss lived in Athens as an undergrad in the mid 2000s before heading on to grad school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Goss made several movies in Athens and Chicago, including installations of his four-part series, Magenta’s Caress, that showcase Goss’ absurdist and unrealistic filmmaking style, with disorienting colors and patterns that contrast the subtle, graceful humor of his deceptively obvious dialogue.
His newest movie, Land, was shot in his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, home also to the crossroads where Robert Johnson purportedly sold his soul to the devil for eternal guitar glory. Land tells the more modern and pragmatic tale of a farmer who trades his soul for control over the weather.
“I wanted to get at the underlying theme of the myth without being nostalgic or paying homage to this legend of Robert Johnson, which has been beaten to death,†said Goss. “A lot of these retellings I’ve seen aren’t getting to the power of what the thing is about: this desire for reaching outside of what a human being is capable of and giving the most precious part of yourself for that.â€
Although Clarksdale was a deliberate choice for Land, Goss rarely, if ever, acknowledges Southern themes in his movies. However, his style of shooting is greatly complemented by a Southern backdrop, granting a distinct largeness missing from his films shot in Chicago.
“There’s something about the farming landscape, the lack of busy people, nobody really going to and fro in the background. A scene where it’s just two people in a conversation, and a field or really nothing in the background sort of foregrounds the actors in a way that makes them bigger and more mythological, which was the goal for this movie, to kind of have these characters representing forces that are bigger than one person.â€
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
