‘Radical Honesty’ (SXSW) Short Film Interview With Writer/ Actor Allison Goldfarb And Director Bianca Poletti

Radical Honesty, a short film about the absurd landscape of modern dating, packs big laughs into its 6-minute and 36-second runtime. Following a conversation from kids named Zephyr to polyamory, actor/writer Allison Goldfarb and director Bianca Poletti join forces to make you laugh at or with us Millennial/ Gen Z’ers.

I got the opportunity to watch Radical Honesty a few weeks early and sit down with the two collaborators in promotion for the film’s premiere at South by Southwest. While tackling complex social dynamics, such as dating, the patriarchy, polyamory, etc, it’s important to laugh because we can take ourselves and our grandiose ideals way. too. seriously.

Synopsis

According to the SXSW website, here is the official synopsis for Bianca Poletti’s comedic short film, Radical Honesty.

At the tail end of a great date, Jack and Rachel bond over a shared interest in deconstructing traditional relationship structures. When Jack reveals the reality of his “radical” open relationship, things take a turn for the absurd in this short film about the co-option of the language of liberation for means of manipulation and control.

SXSW

Why comedy?

Allison Goldfarb: It has a lot to do with my natural lens of the world. Exploring this space between idealism and reality and the gap between those two things is very humorous. You see it happen in individual relationships all the time. Also, I think about how quickly this language has been adopted by corporate culture. There’s something funny about that inherent disconnect. It felt like a natural fit for me.

The Jack character [played by John Hein] seems to like that almost corporate language, he loves those cliches…

AG: Yes. Rachel is very clearly someone who’s interrogating her lived experience. Coming to her own understanding of these concepts. Jack is just kind of using this language in a very empty way, using buzzwords. Meanwhile, she’s asking herself and him, “What do you actually mean by this?”

There’s kind of a profound emptiness in his language.

Bianca Poletti: He lacks any general depth.

It feels like you’re almost having different conversations, it’ antagonistic…

AG: We are having two different conversations. And that’s another way the language really lends itself to humor. The language isn’t connecting. They’re misunderstanding each other. It’s like the inherent quality of language lends itself to that. I’ve certainly had that experience with a partner or a friend, and I think we’re on the same page and I walk away thinking we were just talking about two different things.

Yes! Everyone sort of pulls out different things from interactions. How rooted in your real life is this experience?

AG: It’s definitely fiction. It’s pulling from experiences I’ve heard or experiences I’ve had but its definitely turned up a notch to the absurd.

How did this dynamic lend itself to the various angled shots?

BP: It goes with them not saying the same thing, not really listening. They’re trying to connect, but they’re not really connecting, but you can see them trying. You feel that in the close-up. Even in the wides and the mediums, you feel how far apart they really are. 

I wanted to play with that later when the conversation goes awry a bit, and you can just see Allison’s body language changing completely from the close-ups of her being interested […] then seeing her turn away in that medium-wide. [It was a way] to heighten the suspense and play with the humor in a pretty dialogue-heavy script.

On the humor, it feels like different viewers can get different, let’s say, experiences from Radical Honesty…

AG: My parents have watched it, and when it came out on the SXSW schedule, it’s listed under comedy, and my mom was like, “What, they, listed it under comedy, that’s so weird, its very interesting…”

BP: Definitely awkward humor.

Who is the intended audience?

BP: Youth. I feel like a younger generation would understand it.

AG: I think it’s something very relatable to people of our generation. And that’s kind of who I had in mind when I wrote it. I really just think it’s a unique moment where people are very interested and are creating their own authentic lifestyles, relationships, and realities that are free from the baggage of past generations and society and film and whatever other influences. People are very tuned in to that right now.

It feels like a vulnerable exploration of past and present…

BP: We wanted to kind of play with the old and the new a bit. Having everything feel very retro, the music is old, the waitress is wearing a vintage waitress-y outfit that you’d see in the middle of nowhere, and having that long intro. [You see] that world, then [are lead] to this very modern intimate conversation. There’s a blend between the two.

You two are also working on a show based around this short, is that blended space between the tone you’re exploring more?

BP: I think a little bit. Aesthetically, Allison and I both move toward that world where it feels current, but also has that 70s/60s California vibe. 

How has working together on Radical Honesty and this TV project been? You’ve worked together before on the “Mary” music video, is this more collaborative?

BP: It’s been amazing. I love Allison. We met on that music video, and I cast her in that, and then she sent me the script for Radical Honesty. And again, we have such similar aesthetics that we’re drawn to, stories that we’re drawn to, so it’s been amazing and seamless and I love the way she writes. It’s everything that I’m interested in as far as the characters, the themes that she’s exploring, and the dialogue. It’s witty. The humor’s there but it’s not just in your face. It’s not broad comedy. And I love that.

AG: Yeah. I feel really lucky to have found each other. Ever since Bianca signed onto the script it’s been effortless, seamless, and it’s been really fun working together. It just feels we are very in sync.

Have you written a lot before this, Allison?

AG: I grew up writing, and it’s something I’ve been doing for a long long time, but this is my first foray into screenwriting which has been really fun.

I kind of came at it through the back end because I was working as an actor and I wasn’t really finding a lot of projects or roles that spoke to me.

I decided I should start writing and its been very empowering for me to forge my own path that way. 

Color features prominently in your work Bianca, how did that factor into Radical Honesty?

BP: I love color. With Radical Honesty, the first location I had on hold for it was the Pink Motel…people have used it a lot and the story between [Jack and Rachel], and the tone [in Radical Honesty]–

I didn’t want it to feel commercial or bright or poppy. That’s not the story we’re in. That’s not the world we’re in.

We used Paris Texas as inspo…Todd Hido’s photography, having it feel more like a painting. There’s still color coming in through the window, and ways to make those close ups look really beautiful without it being overly bright or upbeat cause that’s just not really the tone for this one. But I find ways to slip it in. For sure.

Do you recognize color in your own day to day and it’s effect on your environment?

BP: Yeah definitely. I’m really into architecture and buildings and clothing and wardrobe, things like that. I definitely notice all those things and I’m saving it. I started in photography so those kind of things are always in my mind when I’m out and about.

How was it utilizing space and silence in this short of a story?

BP: The idea was to really build to those awkward moments and to see her reaction as he’s on the phone and she’s still in the booth and to build that suspense. We took inspiration from a show that does that really well, [The] White Lotus. Their dinner scenes have us stuck in those worlds and we’re in close ups and its very awkward but still funny because they’re messy and they’re humans and we can’t look away because the camera doesn’t look away

AG: My intention for the performance of it was to retain a realism and have it feel like a real conversation that’s happening. I think a lot of Bianca’s direction lent itself to that […] and a lot of the humor came in through Bianca’s direction and emphasizing those moments of discomfort and lingering a little too long on something. 

Alright, final most important question. What’s your late night diner order?

BP: Oh man. Honestly just diner, straight black coffee is so good. It’s so boring but yeah.

AG: Fries. 

Nuff said.

Radical Honesty premieres THIS SATURDAY, March 12, at 2:15pm CT at SXSW. If you’re going, this is not a short film to miss!

For more work by Bianca Poletti, check out her website, or follow her on Instagram @bpoletti there’s some great stuff over there.

For more by Allison Goldfarb, check out her Instagram @algoldfarb.