November 21, 2025 • 50 mins
In this special review/interview episode, we explore Stationed at Home, a new indie film that explores the connection of the cosmic to the everyday life of people in a forgotten town. Following cab driver Ralph as he awaits the passing of the International Space Station across the sky on a cold Christmas Eve, director Daniel Masciari and crew guide us on a journey through spaces and soul of Binghamton, NY. Daniel joins me after a short review to talk about the process of making the film, the influences and inspirations that brought it about, and the deep themes of place and relationships that are hidden beneath the surface of the story.
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Guest Info:
Daniel Masciari, Director of Stationed at Home
Daniel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielvmasciari/
Stationed at Home
Website (w/ links to buy/rent the film): https://www.stationedathome.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stationedathomefilm/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/StationedAtHome
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stationedathomefeaturefilm
Review on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14284376/
Review on Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stationed_at_home
Review on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/stationed-at-home/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
It wasn't closely. What's the secret thing?
Just got to find something you love to do and then do it for
the rest of your life. I don't want to be a product of
my environment, I want my environment to be a product of
(00:29):
me. Hello and welcome to the
Establishing Shot, a podcast where we do deep dives into
directors and their filmographies.
I am your host Eli Price, and weare here on episode 119 of the
(00:54):
podcast. As you may know, we kind of
wrapped up our Spielberg series with the 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 and kind of spread throughout the end of
this year to the end of this year.
(01:15):
So yeah, this is kind of a special episode.
I, I didn't anticipate this happening, but I got in contact,
reached out to by indie film, a director and his agent to check
out this new indie film stationed at home.
And so today I'm going to do a quick review of this film and I
(01:40):
had the opportunity and privilege of interviewing the
director, Daniel Macchiari on about this movie and about, you
know, his experience as a director.
I'm in a filmmaker. And so, yeah, I'm excited to get
to do this. And, and I really enjoyed this
film. So I'm going to, I'll, what I'll
do is I'll, I'll just kind of introduce it, give the give a, a
(02:04):
quick review, my thoughts on themovie, and then we'll transition
into that interview with with Daniel.
And, and it was a great interview, a great conversation.
He had some awesome things to say about the movie that I
really loved. So that really kind of like, I
guess confirmed a lot of things I was like feeling or thinking
(02:25):
with the movie. So, yeah, I'm excited to share
with you that that conversation with Daniel.
But yeah, let's let's talk aboutthe movie.
Daniel Machiari. He's he's a indie filmmaker from
Boston or the Boston area. And yeah, this is his first
feature film on his debut feature called Stationed at
Home. It is shot in black and white
(02:46):
and set in the late 90s on a cold Christmas Eve Eve in
Binghamton, NY. And it follows this taxi driver
named Ralph, played by Eric Bjarnar, 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.
(03:08):
So 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
(03:31):
the film looks phenomenal. He worked with his DP was
Jackson Jarvis. And in the interview, he talks
about his collaboration with himand it looks really great.
I was getting a Jim Jarmusch vibes from the movie, not just
because of movies like oh, shootthe Jim Jarmusch film Night on
Earth, which is, you know, also kind of taxi driver themed, but
(03:57):
not just because of that. But it really like 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 and you're you're
really following these kind of outsider characters and that I
(04:17):
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 I was I was kind of locked into that feel from the
get go because of that. And one of the things that
impressed me most with this movie.
And I, and I talked with Daniel about this later on, is the
(04:39):
visual language. He has a real sensibility for
how to communicate with the camera, not just with the
dialogue of the characters or narration or whatever, but
communicating with you what he'strying to get across with the
visual language. One of the things that we talked
about in the interview is the insert shots.
(05:01):
There's tons of insert shots, a doll or a nesting doll on a
shelf or there's, you know, whenyou're in Ralph's home, kind of
these objects and things that heis placing or grabbing, you
know, his cat, wherever his cat is positioned, he's insert,
(05:21):
insert shots that really like togive you a feel for the space
you're in the atmosphere, makingyou kind of like pause and
meditate on that. And then just like, I don't
know, like I talked about this transition that he uses to kind
of like it's a humorous transition that is totally like
(05:45):
visual. There's there's not anything
being said, but it communicates so much of like, you know, Ralph
is scratching off a ticket, the lottery ticket.
And then it cuts to them with this big meal out of diner and
you know, you're communicating like these.
Got this. This taxi driver and his
passenger are now have decided to share a meal together.
(06:07):
You know, you've cut in the editfrom him scratching off the
ticket just before you kind of see that he's won to that meal.
There's so much communicated in that right?
These guys have decided Ralph has decided to share this with
with Harry the the other character.
It's humorous because they've decided to go have a big meal at
at a diner with this lottery money that he's won.
(06:31):
It's not a lot. It's like a few 100 probably
that's a scratch off. Yeah, it 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 that theme of remember
to look up kind of throughout visually.
So I was, I was really impressedwith with just ability to use
(06:54):
visual language and such a powerful and, you know, refined
way for for a debut film. The other thing I was surprised
by was the humor. You know, 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.Just some of it is situational.
(07:16):
There's this scene where before Ralph and Harry meet, where
Harry's kind of talking to his girlfriend and trying to have a
serious conversation with her, and Ralph is in the background
getting coffee and it's loud andpouring into his cup, and Harry
pauses and looks back at him. The kind of situational humor,
some of it's even like slapstickor silly.
(07:38):
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 longride and the fair is like over
$1000, which is kind of funny. They they exchange 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.
(08:02):
You know, another thing with this movie is that the
characters and the place 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
(08:25):
moment. And so it made makes a lot of
sense now knowing that and he'llexpound on that more when we go
to the interview. But there's there's great
chemistry between these characters.
They they feel real. They don't feel kind of like
fake. They don't feel like forced.
They just kind of feel like theyare who they are.
(08:47):
They they've lived lives. They will live lives after this.
And and yet in the place feels very lived in.
You know, it was shot mostly, I think on location in Binghamton.
And so, yeah, I I just loved thethe kind of atmosphere of it
there. There's one character, Jack,
(09:07):
that's kind of a part of this ragtag crew that Roth picks up
that he wasn't my favorite character.
I, you know, he kind of rubs youthe wrong way, which I think is
on purpose, to be fair, and thenhas 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 didn't
(09:28):
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 Layed by Darrell Johnson is really great.
The the other friend in this crew is George.
He's played by Peter Foster Morris I believe.
He was really funny and enjoyable.
(09:49):
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.
Daniel even shared that a lot ofthat stuff was just kind of like
improv and, you know, this guy riffing and sending him stuff.
And so that the way they edited that radio DJ throughout is
(10:14):
really, really great. 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 get something more
out of it. And that's always a good
indicator, right. And so and and you know, I think
(10:38):
I think sometimes too, even as speaking to things that that the
artist maybe didn't even realizeit was speaking to, one of the
things I noticed was this, I don't want to talk too much
about these because I talked 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 1/4, a sharing of some toothpick.
(10:59):
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 oflike that International Space
(11:22):
Station kind of represents the interconnectedness of people,
the bridging division sort of thing.
And you get that on a cosmic like level and 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
(11:44):
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 a good thing about the movie.
This these aren't things that are like being said necessarily.
They're things that you kind of feel.
And that's what I really love with the movie.
(12:07):
I love what I can connect with amovie.
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 supposedto feel.
I'm just feeling it along with the characters or with, you
know, with the film makers as they're they're capturing and
editing these sequences. And so, yeah, this is
(12:28):
connectedness to something greater than this longing for
something transcendent that you can kind of feel in the movie.
And then 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 talked about with Daniel and ask him
about. But yeah, I, I really enjoyed
(12:50):
this. I thought it was a really great
debut feature film. Looking forward to to seeing
more from Daniel and whatever hecreates 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 Machiari about Stationed at
(13:12):
Home. And yeah, I hope you enjoy it.
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(13:34):
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(13:57):
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Check out that link in the show notes to learn more.
Back to the show. Hey, I am excited to have on a
this is I believe your second film from what I saw on kind of
letterbox. OK, first feature first feature
(14:18):
film. Daniel, I I should have asked
you this before we started recording, but your pronounce
your last name for me. Yep, Mashari.
MASHIARI OK, See, I was going todo the the hard K sound and so
I'm glad I asked you. And so yeah.
Daniel Mashiari And he has a newfilm, his first feature film
(14:42):
stationed at home. It is available to buy and rent
now that you can go hop on Amazon.
I don't, I'm not sure if it's any other places but I did see
it on Amazon. Yeah, Amazon, Apple TV,
Fandango. Great.
Yeah, Dish Network. Yeah, so you can go, you can go
(15:03):
check it out now, but we're going to talk to Daniel about
him, just like his journey to, to this film and and then dig
into the film a little bit. So Daniel, thank you for for
coming on. I'm excited to talk to you
about, you know, your, your journey to this film and, you
(15:23):
know, yeah, I'm, I'm excited. How are you?
Good. Thank you, Eli.
Really appreciate being here. Excited to talk with you.
Yeah, so, you know, you, this isyour 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, oh,
I'm going to direct a film now. So I would love to hear, you
(15:46):
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, you know, how did you come to this moment?
That's a, 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
(16:08):
camera because they knew that I wanted to like mess around and
make films with my friends and everything.
So we made some, you know, terrible films with that.
And I, I always, I always felt like there was a vision that
could never be executed when I was a little kid.
And so, so I was just tooling around and it and it became this
passion of mine to edit films. So I was always shooting things
(16:32):
with my friends just to get to edit them because I was, you
know, it's 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.
(16:53):
What the time I guess cuz I've been making this film for like 6
years, so like 5 years at the time.
And I got this idea for the filmfor Station at Home when I was
on a bus from New York City to Ithaca, NY, And we stopped in
Binghamton. And it was a cold winter night.
And I was listening to the song Dusk by Duke Ellington and
(17:18):
something about stepping out andlooking at this abandoned train
station on a train track. 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 Bjarner, who plays Ralph, as his
(17:38):
lone cab driver kind of in this forgotten city.
So yeah, it was, it was. I never said, oh, I want to, you
know, just make films. I was just, I, I always made my
short films and, and this film from the same source of
inspiration where I felt the need, like I had to make it.
There's something existential about that process to me.
(17:58):
So I'd say that was sort of the motivation for this.
That's definitely the motivationfor this film.
And everything I write is there's some yearning inside
that it has to be a film, some some idea has to be a film.
Yeah, yeah. So how, how do you get from, you
know, that kind of like transcendent moment of
(18:20):
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?
I guess along the way? I love that question.
Yeah. So fortunately I have.
I, I mean, on this film, I just had the best collaborators you
could imagine. And with this, with this film, I
(18:43):
wrote the film with a lot of inspiration from the city of
Binghamton and actors that I'd 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. So I knew the chemistry between
them. I could knew sort of the vibe
that I would get from working with them.
(19:03):
And I, 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 it in an interesting way.
Some of the characters I didn't have that, but for the bulk of
the of the leads I did. Yeah, very cool.
Yeah. And what I, I guess like, so
(19:27):
when I was watching the movie, there is this moment where I, so
I really love Jim Jarmusch films.
And so there was a moment when Iwas watching it where I was
like, and 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
(19:48):
like a film wise, like maybe a, a, 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 going to make a movie like this, but
just like inspirationally. Yeah, I mean, I have to admit,
when I was writing the film, I really just felt this.
(20:10):
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, oh, this particular
film was inspiring me in that way, I'd say.
(20:31):
Like, I mean, when I was little,I would watch a lot of oddball
films that my parents would showme 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 you know, and Tonyone films as well.
So I think these films definitely inspired me.
(20:55):
I mean, I love Jim Jarmusch as well.
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 tab film as well.
I mean, to me it's like a hugelyflattering, although it's like
also, you know, I, I, I have a lot of admiration for him and
(21:18):
these other film makers. So it's a it's definitely a
funny feeling. And then and then Kirastami as
well. I love Kirastami 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,a simple character even, and
(21:41):
sort of create a very fruitful sort of place that they exist
in, in that, in that sort of with a beauty sort of shined on
it. So yeah, I think I think the
inspiration was definitely from just like years of watching
films that like a lot of people don't see, right, that sort of
(22:02):
realization that film can reallybe a poetic medium, so.
Yeah, one thing I was going to say.
One thing I noticed that I really honestly, you know, for
for first time directors, a lot of times you don't see is the,
the visual language. So a few, few things that I have
(22:23):
in mind are like, there's a lot of whenever you get to a new
setting, you use a lot of insertshots of just kind of like the
environment to kind of you really build like the atmosphere
of each new kind of place they they end up in by just kind of
throwing in some insert shots ofsome, you know, things on a
(22:44):
shelf or, you know, you know, these people over here.
And so I really liked that. And then also just like there's
that 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, how do you envision, you know,
(23:07):
those communicating in those visual ways instead of having
the characters dialogue about the atmosphere or, you know,
that sort of thing? Yeah, I love, I love that
question. Think I think what I'm writing,
especially this film, I really wanted to almost slow time down
a bit. Yeah.
So there was just this instinct of, you know, just slow down and
(23:30):
see what you can find in those textured moments, those those
inserts and working with JacksonJarvis, who's just one of my
best friends, incredible DP. He was in involved from the
gecko. Like second, I sent him my first
script. She's like, I want to do this.
So we really had fun making surewe got those inserts in the
(23:53):
textures of the film, especiallybecause 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 ofgive this connection between the
the ground and the sky. So I mean, it's, it's very
(24:14):
subtle sometimes, you know, likewe can, there might be some wide
shots where the cameras just ever so slightly tilted up or at
a slider 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
(24:35):
where they're just, you know, inthis forgotten place.
Some kind of rambling here. But I think the I love that you
picked up on those inserts because I think I love I love a
good insert shot. There's something about it that
I don't know, the audience just,it's kind of hypnotized on
(24:56):
these, like. Yeah, you know, well, it, it
makes sense too, because, you know, 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 newplace or a new room or whatever.
(25:19):
And so I, I feel like it's, it was because you were so inspired
by the place. It makes sense that, you know,
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.
Definitely, yeah, I think that. And again, like just harping on
(25:43):
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
a whole space of sound opens up when you're just looking at,
say, you know, a shot of Duke Ellington and Ralph's apartment.
You know what? What is that sound?
Maybe it's just silence or something like that.
So yeah, I think, you know, sound was a huge part of this
(26:07):
film. And working with Jack Lyden, 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. It's due when it comes to the,
to 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
(26:30):
hear, you know, the faintest sound will reverberate, you
know, across the city. It's, it's a really beautiful,
like a motorcycle miles away. You'll hear that, that little
vibration if you're in the rightspot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah.
It's it's funny how like these like small places that no one
knows about have such like distinct feelings and vibes and
(26:52):
unique like qualities. I love that.
And I think I really think you capture that well through
through the movie. What?
Thank you. I would, I would love to hear
what inspired placing this around, you know, the
International Space Station. I'm assuming you had kind of
(27:12):
like late 90s in mind when, whenit was kind of a new, the
International Space Station was like a new exciting thing.
But what? What kind of inspired that idea?
Eric Bjarner, 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
(27:36):
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 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
(27:58):
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, orbiting the Earth.
Not always people up there. But, you know, it's there's a
(28:18):
magic in that sort of feeling that I always loved.
And 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
(28:40):
they don't even know until the end.
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 like very like cosmologicalidea is the smaller like
(29:04):
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 1/4? Hey, do you have like any money?
And it's these guys who have nothing basically like sharing
with each other with these smallkindnesses.
(29:26):
And I don't know if that was like an intentional connection
of like this cosmological comingtogether despite differences
connected with these small kindnesses too.
I love that. I really love that reaction.
I always definitely wanted to put a microscope to this film,
you know, So we're picking up onthese subtleties.
(29:47):
Little, you know, like, yeah, like the quarter toothpick, you
know, these little things that, you know, somehow have an
effect. I'm.
You know, if you didn't scratch the scratch off there with
Harry's quarter, they may not have gotten.
The whole story wouldn't have unfolded.
Yeah, so. So it was Harry's.
(30:08):
Yeah. It was Harry's giving nature to
give him the quarter because, you know, he he feels like this
man is someone he could be friends with.
You know, that 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
(30:28):
a convenience store where you have this maybe bizarre
connection with them that ends there.
You know, like, maybe there's like a chemistry that just ends
there. And this, this film is about,
you know, having a moment like that where you're like this,
like there's something there, there's some kind of connection,
but taking it all the way to, you know, one whole night.
(30:49):
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah.
That is a, a funny thing of likemaking those small connections
you make with people that you probably will never see again.
And you know, the, the, I guess the what if of you know, what if
I had more time to spend with this person And, you know, you
(31:11):
even in the end, you kind of getthe feeling like, I feel like
Ralph and Harry will cross pathsagain, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I think that's that's, 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, oh, whoa, he's
(31:32):
never going to meet him again. He, you know, he's they've met
that night. And then there you go.
But there was this bond and thisfriendship.
And again, I got to give credit to these actors, Daryl Johnson
in that for Harry and Ralph talking about their dynamic,
Harry and Ralph's dynamic. Eric.
Eric and Daryl just have such great chemistry.
(31:54):
Yeah, I feel like they were always meant to play this role
together. They have.
They're both kind of like the Blues in a way.
Now there's 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, you know, a sort of poem of sorts in
(32:15):
these subtle moments. And that 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 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
(32:36):
go one after the other. It's just a 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 of fine line that I like.
Yeah, yeah. I love that.
I also noticed, you know, in the, as the, you know, before
(32:57):
the credits roll, 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.
Yeah. I think, you know, in
retrospect, I think, well, therewere a couple layers to this.
(33:17):
So one, I grew up watching a lotof films with my grandfather
because he would let me stay up late and, you know, Yeah, my
parents didn't know about it. Yeah.
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 and he remembers that Eric
(33:41):
Bjornhar, 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 and this Italian sort
of tradition. And, and so the character named
Ralph, I think my grandfather had a, an innocence to him, like
a mood of innocence that that name Ralph just sort of reminds
(34:02):
me of. There's something very simple
about it and something very. Did she use a synesthetic idea
like that? The color brown sort of just
comes to my mind when I think ofthe 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
(34:23):
Ralph off of my grandfather, butI think that the name came to my
mind probably because of a similar feeling I have with that
name. So yeah, I think that that's
about it with that analysis. But yeah, I like the question.
Yeah. Now there's this other character
that I was a bit of an enigma for me.
(34:46):
It is. I'm trying to pull up the the
Elaine. Is it Elaine?
Yeah, she can. 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
(35:07):
process with that character? Because we end up spending more
time with her, you know, kind ofby herself then then I expected,
I guess when we first when I first saw her.
I would love to hear more about like that character.
And there's kind of this, I don't want to give away too much
in this, but like this kind of surreal kind of moment that she
(35:29):
she has. I love to hear more about that.
Yeah, I know for sure. Yeah.
And without giving too much awayto the audience, yeah, I mean, I
always felt Elaine was this character who was sort of the
city of Binghamton, like sort ofthe the the other dimension of
Binghamton. You know, I always felt like the
city of Binghamton, there's thishyper real kind of quality to
(35:51):
it, and then there's this other dimension to it, this
timelessness to it. And I always felt like her
character was going to explore the underworld of Binghamton.
So the character of Elaine always felt to me like the
spiritual part of the film, you know, the other dimension of
(36:12):
Binghamton. Because I always saw Binghamton
as having, you know, this reality of 1998, this sort of
forgotten city, but then the spiritual timelessness to the
city that to me, Elaine was thissort of force.
She could be in the late 1800s or the 1960s or something like
that. So, and without giving too much
(36:33):
away to the audience, the her purpose as an enigma, I think
I'm I'm happy that came through because I wanted it to be this
question of of who is she? And seeing it all connect to the
to the adventure of the other characters.
I really wanted to tie the the sort of, yeah, the surreal, the
(36:55):
sort of other dimension of the city to the to the real in a way
that felt natural to the progression of the film.
Yeah, that's really interesting to me because when you're
talking, I was just thinking, man, I've never really thought
about how, you know, we we mightthink about like how we kind of
(37:17):
have different sides of ourselves, are like physical
side and are more spiritual sideof our self.
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 that, you know, you
(37:38):
can feel when you go somewhere new, maybe don't know how to
explain it, but that that's super interesting.
Yeah, It, I love that you're saying that.
It's like the the idea of the uncanny in a way.
Yeah. 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
(38:00):
you guys, I think I had known about it.
I'm blinking if I knew about it or the first time I was learning
about it, that the Twilight Zonewas spawned in Binghamton.
That's where the idea came from.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 thebuildings and maybe some other
(38:24):
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 I think 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, I'm happy that the
(38:48):
the audiences seem to pick up onthat.
And I think Elaine's enigma, herenigmatic quality, brings us to
that throughout the film. And I don't want to give too
much away. 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
(39:09):
called The Night of the Meet. 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 the town has a very similar vibe to, you
know, Bingham Tom and and stationed at home.
So I don't know. I'll have to.
I'll have to look that up after and see where that episode was
shot. Yeah, no better way to spend
(39:29):
your Christmas holidays than watching The Twilight Zone, for
sure. It's a great, it's a great
Christmas episode. I love it.
It's my brother. It's one of my brother in law's,
like favorite things to watch. He's the one that introduced it
to me. Yeah.
A Christmas time tradition for him.
I'll have to check that out. So one of the other things that
(39:51):
you know, I noticed is this thislike radio announcer throughout
the film is talking about different things.
And it all kind of culminates inthis kind of transcendent
moment, you know, where he's talking about the passing of the
(40:11):
International Space Station. And and there's this visual
moments that I won't explain it in too much detail, but.
Of a, a person like going into adoor that you're seeing through
a hall and you know, into some light and you know, the, the
announcers talking about, you know, the, the moment where like
(40:35):
we'll say goodbye to the, the space station as it passes
through the sky and someone elsewill be on the other side of the
world will be welcoming it. And it really like as I was
reflecting on that afterwards, it made me think about how kind
of death can be not just a moment of loss, but a moment of
(40:55):
like passing on a legacy of sorts.
And you know, kind of throughoutyou see that Ralph is like
reflecting on his mother too. And so I was just wondering if
if that's something that you hadin mind of just this idea of
death as this kind of like a passing on of a legacy and of a
tradition and. Yeah, I mean, I, I want to first
(41:18):
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.
(41:39):
And then ultimately we recorded it properly.
So I have to say, like the 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. I love that.
Which again, I come from an edit.
Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah. I come from an editing
background. And so to me, it's, you know, I
(42:01):
wanted to make sure that as we were in post production, there
was room to heighten things and elevate things without it being
just, you know, just what we shot, just the script.
I wanted to, you know, be able to flow but still have those
anchor points to make sure it all is correct.
But yeah, I think the. To me, yeah.
Anyways, yeah, the space stationis again, at least.
(42:26):
I mean, I'm probably wrong aboutthis, but visually, as far as we
can see humans out there, we're pretty far out.
I mean, we're not that far, you know, in terms of the Galaxy and
the universe, but it still lookslike we're getting out there,
you know? Still.
Yeah, I always. And again, not to give too much
away, but I really wanted to have this idea is, you know, not
(42:52):
that, you know, heaven or, you know, the afterlife is
necessarily in another sort of and maybe it's just further out,
you know, maybe it's maybe it's just, you know, in space.
Not as far away as. Was this an idea of thing?
Yeah, yeah. Maybe the, you know, I just
(43:13):
something we were playing with. Yeah, just like the idea of
space, like perhaps it's all outthere and, you know, I don't
know, just riffing. Yeah, yeah, People are probably
going to think I'm like, I don'tknow, tripped out or something.
No, no, like I, I love that because I think when we
sometimes when like we create things, it ends up like we have
(43:35):
to reflect on what we've createdand, you know, think on it and
it, it shows new things to us, even though we're the one that
made it, you know, for sure. I think that's a beautiful thing
about art and creating things. The, I think the black and white
also allows for this ability to imagine more than what meets the
(43:59):
eye. I think sometimes color, I mean,
obviously I love films that are made in color, but I think it
it's, it's a bit more of a hurdle to allow the audience to
to go into their own imaginationa bit.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I think that's what I was
(44:19):
going to. Say great.
Yeah. So before, before we go, I would
love to to hear, you know, do you have any other like stories
that you're like itching to tell?
Do you have anything else on thehorizon?
Yeah, I can tell you off air about that.
That's fair. It's sort of great.
(44:39):
It's in its infant stage. Great.
I'd love, love to hear about thethat 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 and want
(44:59):
to recommend for other people toto see after they watch
stationed at home. Yeah, for sure.
So before I forget, yes, to all the audience watching this,
please. It's so important for
independent films like Cars, Going, Rotten Tomatoes and rate
and review it and Letterbox if you haven't really.
(45:20):
It really helps us get more and more visibility.
Yeah. And I'll, I'll make sure to link
link those in that description so people can just click on them
and go review it. Thank you so much.
But yeah, to movie recommendation that I've seen
recently, there's quite a few. There's this film I absolutely
love called Delirious, OK, from 2006, starring Steve Buscemi.
(45:45):
He plays a, he plays a paparazziguy.
And not to give too much away, but he takes this young man off
the street essentially to like be his assistant.
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.
What did he get some? It's an incredible film.
(46:07):
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 byAntonioni starring Jack
Nicholson. Love that film Days of being
wild by one car Y It's amazing, yes.
(46:28):
So those 3 for now. OK, great Gary, I got more than
I even bargained for, so I'll take it.
Well, thank you so much Daniel for for coming on and talking
about your, 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.
So best of luck to you on your journey with this film and and
(46:50):
whatever projects you might havecoming next.
Thanks a ton Eli, really appreciate being here.
Thanks. Hello again.
Do you know how you can really support the show for free in
just a few minutes or less? That's right.
Just leave a rating and review on Spotify and Apple or wherever
(47:12):
you listen. That might allow for ratings and
reviews. These really help the visibility
of the podcast. In fact, just hit that pause
button right now and drop the review right now and then you
can get back to the show. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Okay, I trust that you went and left that rating in review now.
(47:35):
Back to the show. Huge thanks to again to Daniel
Macchiari for coming on and talking with me about Stationed
at Home. Like I've said already on this
episode, I really enjoyed it. I 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
(47:58):
typical Apple TV, Amazon, Fandango at home.
I think just search for a station at home.
I'll, I'll try to link some of those in the episode
description. And yeah, please go watch it and
go, go rent it and and support this film.
Indie films are so they have to work so hard to, you know,
(48:19):
promote and to get it, get it out there and get it in front of
people. And so I'm glad that I have the
opportunity to to kind of help help 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 a something a lot of people use.
(48:40):
And then the letterbox, of course.
So I'll link those so you can goreview the movie, rate it and
that that helps a ton. You know more than you can know
for every little review, every little rating helps a ton, as I
know as a podcaster and independent podcasters go do
that. But that is really, that's
(49:02):
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 beevery week, but I'm going to 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 sofa far
(49:23):
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, the this first quarter of the
century from 2000 and 2024. And so I'm going to do that and
(49:47):
that that should be a fun episode, maybe a Christmas
episode that I have in the workscoming out at some point.
And so, yeah, those are those are a couple 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.
(50:12):
We will not be here. For a little while, but.
Look, I think. It was.
This way.
It wasn't closely. What's the secret thing?
Just got to find something you love to do and then do it for
the rest of your life. I don't want to be a product of
my environment, I want my environment to be a product of
(00:29):
me. Hello and welcome to the
Establishing Shot, a podcast where we do deep dives into
directors and their filmographies.
I am your host Eli Price, and weare here on episode 119 of the
(00:54):
podcast. As you may know, we kind of
wrapped up our Spielberg series with the 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 and kind of spread throughout the end of
this year to the end of this year.
(01:15):
So yeah, this is kind of a special episode.
I, I didn't anticipate this happening, but I got in contact,
reached out to by indie film, a director and his agent to check
out this new indie film stationed at home.
And so today I'm going to do a quick review of this film and I
(01:40):
had the opportunity and privilege of interviewing the
director, Daniel Macchiari on about this movie and about, you
know, his experience as a director.
I'm in a filmmaker. And so, yeah, I'm excited to get
to do this. And, and I really enjoyed this
film. So I'm going to, I'll, what I'll
do is I'll, I'll just kind of introduce it, give the give a, a
(02:04):
quick review, my thoughts on themovie, and then we'll transition
into that interview with with Daniel.
And, and it was a great interview, a great conversation.
He had some awesome things to say about the movie that I
really loved. So that really kind of like, I
guess confirmed a lot of things I was like feeling or thinking
(02:25):
with the movie. So, yeah, I'm excited to share
with you that that conversation with Daniel.
But yeah, let's let's talk aboutthe movie.
Daniel Machiari. He's he's a indie filmmaker from
Boston or the Boston area. And yeah, this is his first
feature film on his debut feature called Stationed at
Home. It is shot in black and white
(02:46):
and set in the late 90s on a cold Christmas Eve Eve in
Binghamton, NY. And it follows this taxi driver
named Ralph, played by Eric Bjarnar, 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.
(03:08):
So 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
(03:31):
the film looks phenomenal. He worked with his DP was
Jackson Jarvis. And in the interview, he talks
about his collaboration with himand it looks really great.
I was getting a Jim Jarmusch vibes from the movie, not just
because of movies like oh, shootthe Jim Jarmusch film Night on
Earth, which is, you know, also kind of taxi driver themed, but
(03:57):
not just because of that. But it really like 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 and you're you're
really following these kind of outsider characters and that I
(04:17):
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 I was I was kind of locked into that feel from the
get go because of that. And one of the things that
impressed me most with this movie.
And I, and I talked with Daniel about this later on, is the
(04:39):
visual language. He has a real sensibility for
how to communicate with the camera, not just with the
dialogue of the characters or narration or whatever, but
communicating with you what he'strying to get across with the
visual language. One of the things that we talked
about in the interview is the insert shots.
(05:01):
There's tons of insert shots, a doll or a nesting doll on a
shelf or there's, you know, whenyou're in Ralph's home, kind of
these objects and things that heis placing or grabbing, you
know, his cat, wherever his cat is positioned, he's insert,
(05:21):
insert shots that really like togive you a feel for the space
you're in the atmosphere, makingyou kind of like pause and
meditate on that. And then just like, I don't
know, like I talked about this transition that he uses to kind
of like it's a humorous transition that is totally like
(05:45):
visual. There's there's not anything
being said, but it communicates so much of like, you know, Ralph
is scratching off a ticket, the lottery ticket.
And then it cuts to them with this big meal out of diner and
you know, you're communicating like these.
Got this. This taxi driver and his
passenger are now have decided to share a meal together.
(06:07):
You know, you've cut in the editfrom him scratching off the
ticket just before you kind of see that he's won to that meal.
There's so much communicated in that right?
These guys have decided Ralph has decided to share this with
with Harry the the other character.
It's humorous because they've decided to go have a big meal at
at a diner with this lottery money that he's won.
(06:31):
It's not a lot. It's like a few 100 probably
that's a scratch off. Yeah, it 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 that theme of remember
to look up kind of throughout visually.
So I was, I was really impressedwith with just ability to use
(06:54):
visual language and such a powerful and, you know, refined
way for for a debut film. The other thing I was surprised
by was the humor. You know, 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.Just some of it is situational.
(07:16):
There's this scene where before Ralph and Harry meet, where
Harry's kind of talking to his girlfriend and trying to have a
serious conversation with her, and Ralph is in the background
getting coffee and it's loud andpouring into his cup, and Harry
pauses and looks back at him. The kind of situational humor,
some of it's even like slapstickor silly.
(07:38):
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 longride and the fair is like over
$1000, which is kind of funny. They they exchange 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.
(08:02):
You know, another thing with this movie is that the
characters and the place 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
(08:25):
moment. And so it made makes a lot of
sense now knowing that and he'llexpound on that more when we go
to the interview. But there's there's great
chemistry between these characters.
They they feel real. They don't feel kind of like
fake. They don't feel like forced.
They just kind of feel like theyare who they are.
(08:47):
They they've lived lives. They will live lives after this.
And and yet in the place feels very lived in.
You know, it was shot mostly, I think on location in Binghamton.
And so, yeah, I I just loved thethe kind of atmosphere of it
there. There's one character, Jack,
(09:07):
that's kind of a part of this ragtag crew that Roth picks up
that he wasn't my favorite character.
I, you know, he kind of rubs youthe wrong way, which I think is
on purpose, to be fair, and thenhas 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 didn't
(09:28):
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 Layed by Darrell Johnson is really great.
The the other friend in this crew is George.
He's played by Peter Foster Morris I believe.
He was really funny and enjoyable.
(09:49):
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.
Daniel even shared that a lot ofthat stuff was just kind of like
improv and, you know, this guy riffing and sending him stuff.
And so that the way they edited that radio DJ throughout is
(10:14):
really, really great. 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 get something more
out of it. And that's always a good
indicator, right. And so and and you know, I think
(10:38):
I think sometimes too, even as speaking to things that that the
artist maybe didn't even realizeit was speaking to, one of the
things I noticed was this, I don't want to talk too much
about these because I talked 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 1/4, a sharing of some toothpick.
(10:59):
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 oflike that International Space
(11:22):
Station kind of represents the interconnectedness of people,
the bridging division sort of thing.
And you get that on a cosmic like level and 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
(11:44):
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 a good thing about the movie.
This these aren't things that are like being said necessarily.
They're things that you kind of feel.
And that's what I really love with the movie.
(12:07):
I love what I can connect with amovie.
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 supposedto feel.
I'm just feeling it along with the characters or with, you
know, with the film makers as they're they're capturing and
editing these sequences. And so, yeah, this is
(12:28):
connectedness to something greater than this longing for
something transcendent that you can kind of feel in the movie.
And then 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 talked about with Daniel and ask him
about. But yeah, I, I really enjoyed
(12:50):
this. I thought it was a really great
debut feature film. Looking forward to to seeing
more from Daniel and whatever hecreates 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 Machiari about Stationed at
(13:12):
Home. And yeah, I hope you enjoy it.
Hi, Quick reminder that you yes,you can be a huge help to the
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establishing shot family throughsome giving peers starting as
(13:34):
low as $5 a month. You heard that right, only $5 a
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(13:57):
movie for me to review for the show.
Check out that link in the show notes to learn more.
Back to the show. Hey, I am excited to have on a
this is I believe your second film from what I saw on kind of
letterbox. OK, first feature first feature
(14:18):
film. Daniel, I I should have asked
you this before we started recording, but your pronounce
your last name for me. Yep, Mashari.
MASHIARI OK, See, I was going todo the the hard K sound and so
I'm glad I asked you. And so yeah.
Daniel Mashiari And he has a newfilm, his first feature film
(14:42):
stationed at home. It is available to buy and rent
now that you can go hop on Amazon.
I don't, I'm not sure if it's any other places but I did see
it on Amazon. Yeah, Amazon, Apple TV,
Fandango. Great.
Yeah, Dish Network. Yeah, so you can go, you can go
(15:03):
check it out now, but we're going to talk to Daniel about
him, just like his journey to, to this film and and then dig
into the film a little bit. So Daniel, thank you for for
coming on. I'm excited to talk to you
about, you know, your, your journey to this film and, you
(15:23):
know, yeah, I'm, I'm excited. How are you?
Good. Thank you, Eli.
Really appreciate being here. Excited to talk with you.
Yeah, so, you know, you, this isyour 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, oh,
I'm going to direct a film now. So I would love to hear, you
(15:46):
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, you know, how did you come to this moment?
That's a, 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
(16:08):
camera because they knew that I wanted to like mess around and
make films with my friends and everything.
So we made some, you know, terrible films with that.
And I, I always, I always felt like there was a vision that
could never be executed when I was a little kid.
And so, so I was just tooling around and it and it became this
passion of mine to edit films. So I was always shooting things
(16:32):
with my friends just to get to edit them because I was, you
know, it's 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.
(16:53):
What the time I guess cuz I've been making this film for like 6
years, so like 5 years at the time.
And I got this idea for the filmfor Station at Home when I was
on a bus from New York City to Ithaca, NY, And we stopped in
Binghamton. And it was a cold winter night.
And I was listening to the song Dusk by Duke Ellington and
(17:18):
something about stepping out andlooking at this abandoned train
station on a train track. 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 Bjarner, who plays Ralph, as his
(17:38):
lone cab driver kind of in this forgotten city.
So yeah, it was, it was. I never said, oh, I want to, you
know, just make films. I was just, I, I always made my
short films and, and this film from the same source of
inspiration where I felt the need, like I had to make it.
There's something existential about that process to me.
(17:58):
So I'd say that was sort of the motivation for this.
That's definitely the motivationfor this film.
And everything I write is there's some yearning inside
that it has to be a film, some some idea has to be a film.
Yeah, yeah. So how, how do you get from, you
know, that kind of like transcendent moment of
(18:20):
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?
I guess along the way? I love that question.
Yeah. So fortunately I have.
I, I mean, on this film, I just had the best collaborators you
could imagine. And with this, with this film, I
(18:43):
wrote the film with a lot of inspiration from the city of
Binghamton and actors that I'd 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. So I knew the chemistry between
them. I could knew sort of the vibe
that I would get from working with them.
(19:03):
And I, 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 it in an interesting way.
Some of the characters I didn't have that, but for the bulk of
the of the leads I did. Yeah, very cool.
Yeah. And what I, I guess like, so
(19:27):
when I was watching the movie, there is this moment where I, so
I really love Jim Jarmusch films.
And so there was a moment when Iwas watching it where I was
like, and 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
(19:48):
like a film wise, like maybe a, a, 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 going to make a movie like this, but
just like inspirationally. Yeah, I mean, I have to admit,
when I was writing the film, I really just felt this.
(20:10):
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, oh, this particular
film was inspiring me in that way, I'd say.
(20:31):
Like, I mean, when I was little,I would watch a lot of oddball
films that my parents would showme 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 you know, and Tonyone films as well.
So I think these films definitely inspired me.
(20:55):
I mean, I love Jim Jarmusch as well.
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 tab film as well.
I mean, to me it's like a hugelyflattering, although it's like
also, you know, I, I, I have a lot of admiration for him and
(21:18):
these other film makers. So it's a it's definitely a
funny feeling. And then and then Kirastami as
well. I love Kirastami 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,a simple character even, and
(21:41):
sort of create a very fruitful sort of place that they exist
in, in that, in that sort of with a beauty sort of shined on
it. So yeah, I think I think the
inspiration was definitely from just like years of watching
films that like a lot of people don't see, right, that sort of
(22:02):
realization that film can reallybe a poetic medium, so.
Yeah, one thing I was going to say.
One thing I noticed that I really honestly, you know, for
for first time directors, a lot of times you don't see is the,
the visual language. So a few, few things that I have
(22:23):
in mind are like, there's a lot of whenever you get to a new
setting, you use a lot of insertshots of just kind of like the
environment to kind of you really build like the atmosphere
of each new kind of place they they end up in by just kind of
throwing in some insert shots ofsome, you know, things on a
(22:44):
shelf or, you know, you know, these people over here.
And so I really liked that. And then also just like there's
that 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, how do you envision, you know,
(23:07):
those communicating in those visual ways instead of having
the characters dialogue about the atmosphere or, you know,
that sort of thing? Yeah, I love, I love that
question. Think I think what I'm writing,
especially this film, I really wanted to almost slow time down
a bit. Yeah.
So there was just this instinct of, you know, just slow down and
(23:30):
see what you can find in those textured moments, those those
inserts and working with JacksonJarvis, who's just one of my
best friends, incredible DP. He was in involved from the
gecko. Like second, I sent him my first
script. She's like, I want to do this.
So we really had fun making surewe got those inserts in the
(23:53):
textures of the film, especiallybecause 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 ofgive this connection between the
the ground and the sky. So I mean, it's, it's very
(24:14):
subtle sometimes, you know, likewe can, there might be some wide
shots where the cameras just ever so slightly tilted up or at
a slider 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
(24:35):
where they're just, you know, inthis forgotten place.
Some kind of rambling here. But I think the I love that you
picked up on those inserts because I think I love I love a
good insert shot. There's something about it that
I don't know, the audience just,it's kind of hypnotized on
(24:56):
these, like. Yeah, you know, well, it, it
makes sense too, because, you know, 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 newplace or a new room or whatever.
(25:19):
And so I, I feel like it's, it was because you were so inspired
by the place. It makes sense that, you know,
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.
Definitely, yeah, I think that. And again, like just harping on
(25:43):
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
a whole space of sound opens up when you're just looking at,
say, you know, a shot of Duke Ellington and Ralph's apartment.
You know what? What is that sound?
Maybe it's just silence or something like that.
So yeah, I think, you know, sound was a huge part of this
(26:07):
film. And working with Jack Lyden, 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. It's due when it comes to the,
to 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
(26:30):
hear, you know, the faintest sound will reverberate, you
know, across the city. It's, it's a really beautiful,
like a motorcycle miles away. You'll hear that, that little
vibration if you're in the rightspot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah.
It's it's funny how like these like small places that no one
knows about have such like distinct feelings and vibes and
(26:52):
unique like qualities. I love that.
And I think I really think you capture that well through
through the movie. What?
Thank you. I would, I would love to hear
what inspired placing this around, you know, the
International Space Station. I'm assuming you had kind of
(27:12):
like late 90s in mind when, whenit was kind of a new, the
International Space Station was like a new exciting thing.
But what? What kind of inspired that idea?
Eric Bjarner, 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
(27:36):
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 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
(27:58):
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, orbiting the Earth.
Not always people up there. But, you know, it's there's a
(28:18):
magic in that sort of feeling that I always loved.
And 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
(28:40):
they don't even know until the end.
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 like very like cosmologicalidea is the smaller like
(29:04):
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 1/4? Hey, do you have like any money?
And it's these guys who have nothing basically like sharing
with each other with these smallkindnesses.
(29:26):
And I don't know if that was like an intentional connection
of like this cosmological comingtogether despite differences
connected with these small kindnesses too.
I love that. I really love that reaction.
I always definitely wanted to put a microscope to this film,
you know, So we're picking up onthese subtleties.
(29:47):
Little, you know, like, yeah, like the quarter toothpick, you
know, these little things that, you know, somehow have an
effect. I'm.
You know, if you didn't scratch the scratch off there with
Harry's quarter, they may not have gotten.
The whole story wouldn't have unfolded.
Yeah, so. So it was Harry's.
(30:08):
Yeah. It was Harry's giving nature to
give him the quarter because, you know, he he feels like this
man is someone he could be friends with.
You know, that 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
(30:28):
a convenience store where you have this maybe bizarre
connection with them that ends there.
You know, like, maybe there's like a chemistry that just ends
there. And this, this film is about,
you know, having a moment like that where you're like this,
like there's something there, there's some kind of connection,
but taking it all the way to, you know, one whole night.
(30:49):
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah.
That is a, a funny thing of likemaking those small connections
you make with people that you probably will never see again.
And you know, the, the, I guess the what if of you know, what if
I had more time to spend with this person And, you know, you
(31:11):
even in the end, you kind of getthe feeling like, I feel like
Ralph and Harry will cross pathsagain, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I think that's that's, 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, oh, whoa, he's
(31:32):
never going to meet him again. He, you know, he's they've met
that night. And then there you go.
But there was this bond and thisfriendship.
And again, I got to give credit to these actors, Daryl Johnson
in that for Harry and Ralph talking about their dynamic,
Harry and Ralph's dynamic. Eric.
Eric and Daryl just have such great chemistry.
(31:54):
Yeah, I feel like they were always meant to play this role
together. They have.
They're both kind of like the Blues in a way.
Now there's 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, you know, a sort of poem of sorts in
(32:15):
these subtle moments. And that 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 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
(32:36):
go one after the other. It's just a 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 of fine line that I like.
Yeah, yeah. I love that.
I also noticed, you know, in the, as the, you know, before
(32:57):
the credits roll, 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.
Yeah. I think, you know, in
retrospect, I think, well, therewere a couple layers to this.
(33:17):
So one, I grew up watching a lotof films with my grandfather
because he would let me stay up late and, you know, Yeah, my
parents didn't know about it. Yeah.
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 and he remembers that Eric
(33:41):
Bjornhar, 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 and this Italian sort
of tradition. And, and so the character named
Ralph, I think my grandfather had a, an innocence to him, like
a mood of innocence that that name Ralph just sort of reminds
(34:02):
me of. There's something very simple
about it and something very. Did she use a synesthetic idea
like that? The color brown sort of just
comes to my mind when I think ofthe 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
(34:23):
Ralph off of my grandfather, butI think that the name came to my
mind probably because of a similar feeling I have with that
name. So yeah, I think that that's
about it with that analysis. But yeah, I like the question.
Yeah. Now there's this other character
that I was a bit of an enigma for me.
(34:46):
It is. I'm trying to pull up the the
Elaine. Is it Elaine?
Yeah, she can. 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
(35:07):
process with that character? Because we end up spending more
time with her, you know, kind ofby herself then then I expected,
I guess when we first when I first saw her.
I would love to hear more about like that character.
And there's kind of this, I don't want to give away too much
in this, but like this kind of surreal kind of moment that she
(35:29):
she has. I love to hear more about that.
Yeah, I know for sure. Yeah.
And without giving too much awayto the audience, yeah, I mean, I
always felt Elaine was this character who was sort of the
city of Binghamton, like sort ofthe the the other dimension of
Binghamton. You know, I always felt like the
city of Binghamton, there's thishyper real kind of quality to
(35:51):
it, and then there's this other dimension to it, this
timelessness to it. And I always felt like her
character was going to explore the underworld of Binghamton.
So the character of Elaine always felt to me like the
spiritual part of the film, you know, the other dimension of
(36:12):
Binghamton. Because I always saw Binghamton
as having, you know, this reality of 1998, this sort of
forgotten city, but then the spiritual timelessness to the
city that to me, Elaine was thissort of force.
She could be in the late 1800s or the 1960s or something like
that. So, and without giving too much
(36:33):
away to the audience, the her purpose as an enigma, I think
I'm I'm happy that came through because I wanted it to be this
question of of who is she? And seeing it all connect to the
to the adventure of the other characters.
I really wanted to tie the the sort of, yeah, the surreal, the
(36:55):
sort of other dimension of the city to the to the real in a way
that felt natural to the progression of the film.
Yeah, that's really interesting to me because when you're
talking, I was just thinking, man, I've never really thought
about how, you know, we we mightthink about like how we kind of
(37:17):
have different sides of ourselves, are like physical
side and are more spiritual sideof our self.
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 that, you know, you
(37:38):
can feel when you go somewhere new, maybe don't know how to
explain it, but that that's super interesting.
Yeah, It, I love that you're saying that.
It's like the the idea of the uncanny in a way.
Yeah. 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
(38:00):
you guys, I think I had known about it.
I'm blinking if I knew about it or the first time I was learning
about it, that the Twilight Zonewas spawned in Binghamton.
That's where the idea came from.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 thebuildings and maybe some other
(38:24):
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 I think 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, I'm happy that the
(38:48):
the audiences seem to pick up onthat.
And I think Elaine's enigma, herenigmatic quality, brings us to
that throughout the film. And I don't want to give too
much away. 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
(39:09):
called The Night of the Meet. 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 the town has a very similar vibe to, you
know, Bingham Tom and and stationed at home.
So I don't know. I'll have to.
I'll have to look that up after and see where that episode was
shot. Yeah, no better way to spend
(39:29):
your Christmas holidays than watching The Twilight Zone, for
sure. It's a great, it's a great
Christmas episode. I love it.
It's my brother. It's one of my brother in law's,
like favorite things to watch. He's the one that introduced it
to me. Yeah.
A Christmas time tradition for him.
I'll have to check that out. So one of the other things that
(39:51):
you know, I noticed is this thislike radio announcer throughout
the film is talking about different things.
And it all kind of culminates inthis kind of transcendent
moment, you know, where he's talking about the passing of the
(40:11):
International Space Station. And and there's this visual
moments that I won't explain it in too much detail, but.
Of a, a person like going into adoor that you're seeing through
a hall and you know, into some light and you know, the, the
announcers talking about, you know, the, the moment where like
(40:35):
we'll say goodbye to the, the space station as it passes
through the sky and someone elsewill be on the other side of the
world will be welcoming it. And it really like as I was
reflecting on that afterwards, it made me think about how kind
of death can be not just a moment of loss, but a moment of
(40:55):
like passing on a legacy of sorts.
And you know, kind of throughoutyou see that Ralph is like
reflecting on his mother too. And so I was just wondering if
if that's something that you hadin mind of just this idea of
death as this kind of like a passing on of a legacy and of a
tradition and. Yeah, I mean, I, I want to first
(41:18):
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.
(41:39):
And then ultimately we recorded it properly.
So I have to say, like the 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. I love that.
Which again, I come from an edit.
Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah. I come from an editing
background. And so to me, it's, you know, I
(42:01):
wanted to make sure that as we were in post production, there
was room to heighten things and elevate things without it being
just, you know, just what we shot, just the script.
I wanted to, you know, be able to flow but still have those
anchor points to make sure it all is correct.
But yeah, I think the. To me, yeah.
Anyways, yeah, the space stationis again, at least.
(42:26):
I mean, I'm probably wrong aboutthis, but visually, as far as we
can see humans out there, we're pretty far out.
I mean, we're not that far, you know, in terms of the Galaxy and
the universe, but it still lookslike we're getting out there,
you know? Still.
Yeah, I always. And again, not to give too much
away, but I really wanted to have this idea is, you know, not
(42:52):
that, you know, heaven or, you know, the afterlife is
necessarily in another sort of and maybe it's just further out,
you know, maybe it's maybe it's just, you know, in space.
Not as far away as. Was this an idea of thing?
Yeah, yeah. Maybe the, you know, I just
(43:13):
something we were playing with. Yeah, just like the idea of
space, like perhaps it's all outthere and, you know, I don't
know, just riffing. Yeah, yeah, People are probably
going to think I'm like, I don'tknow, tripped out or something.
No, no, like I, I love that because I think when we
sometimes when like we create things, it ends up like we have
(43:35):
to reflect on what we've createdand, you know, think on it and
it, it shows new things to us, even though we're the one that
made it, you know, for sure. I think that's a beautiful thing
about art and creating things. The, I think the black and white
also allows for this ability to imagine more than what meets the
(43:59):
eye. I think sometimes color, I mean,
obviously I love films that are made in color, but I think it
it's, it's a bit more of a hurdle to allow the audience to
to go into their own imaginationa bit.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I think that's what I was
(44:19):
going to. Say great.
Yeah. So before, before we go, I would
love to to hear, you know, do you have any other like stories
that you're like itching to tell?
Do you have anything else on thehorizon?
Yeah, I can tell you off air about that.
That's fair. It's sort of great.
(44:39):
It's in its infant stage. Great.
I'd love, love to hear about thethat 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 and want
(44:59):
to recommend for other people toto see after they watch
stationed at home. Yeah, for sure.
So before I forget, yes, to all the audience watching this,
please. It's so important for
independent films like Cars, Going, Rotten Tomatoes and rate
and review it and Letterbox if you haven't really.
(45:20):
It really helps us get more and more visibility.
Yeah. And I'll, I'll make sure to link
link those in that description so people can just click on them
and go review it. Thank you so much.
But yeah, to movie recommendation that I've seen
recently, there's quite a few. There's this film I absolutely
love called Delirious, OK, from 2006, starring Steve Buscemi.
(45:45):
He plays a, he plays a paparazziguy.
And not to give too much away, but he takes this young man off
the street essentially to like be his assistant.
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.
What did he get some? It's an incredible film.
(46:07):
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 byAntonioni starring Jack
Nicholson. Love that film Days of being
wild by one car Y It's amazing, yes.
(46:28):
So those 3 for now. OK, great Gary, I got more than
I even bargained for, so I'll take it.
Well, thank you so much Daniel for for coming on and talking
about your, 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.
So best of luck to you on your journey with this film and and
(46:50):
whatever projects you might havecoming next.
Thanks a ton Eli, really appreciate being here.
Thanks. Hello again.
Do you know how you can really support the show for free in
just a few minutes or less? That's right.
Just leave a rating and review on Spotify and Apple or wherever
(47:12):
you listen. That might allow for ratings and
reviews. These really help the visibility
of the podcast. In fact, just hit that pause
button right now and drop the review right now and then you
can get back to the show. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Okay, I trust that you went and left that rating in review now.
(47:35):
Back to the show. Huge thanks to again to Daniel
Macchiari for coming on and talking with me about Stationed
at Home. Like I've said already on this
episode, I really enjoyed it. I 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
(47:58):
typical Apple TV, Amazon, Fandango at home.
I think just search for a station at home.
I'll, I'll try to link some of those in the episode
description. And yeah, please go watch it and
go, go rent it and and support this film.
Indie films are so they have to work so hard to, you know,
(48:19):
promote and to get it, get it out there and get it in front of
people. And so I'm glad that I have the
opportunity to to kind of help help 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 a something a lot of people use.
(48:40):
And then the letterbox, of course.
So I'll link those so you can goreview the movie, rate it and
that that helps a ton. You know more than you can know
for every little review, every little rating helps a ton, as I
know as a podcaster and independent podcasters go do
that. But that is really, that's
(49:02):
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 beevery week, but I'm going to 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 sofa far
(49:23):
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, the this first quarter of the
century from 2000 and 2024. And so I'm going to do that and
(49:47):
that that should be a fun episode, maybe a Christmas
episode that I have in the workscoming out at some point.
And so, yeah, those are those are a couple 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.
(50:12):
We will not be here. For a little while, but.
Look, I think. It was.
This way.
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