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“No other recent Brooklyn product defines its people by the nature of their neighborhood more than Brad Saville’s Williamsburg. A riff on Richard Linklater’s Slacker, Williamsburg basically unfolds as a series of static shots following various despondent personalities, each of whom claims to be an artist but fails to produce any actual art.

Saville, a playwright in his late twenties, is originally from Virginia. He dreamed up his black-and-white condemnation of aimless Brooklynites in response to a perceived laziness overtaking the neighborhood. “People come up here looking for something to do and attach themselves to other people who have like-minded ambitions,” he explains. “They have those stagnant two years after school where they try to get out of their system whatever they need to get out of their system, like being an actor. So they spend a couple years up here, and then they get married and move away. They form these groups of people who hang out and they all prop each other up. You surround yourself with seven or eight people to help legitimize yourself. I think [Williamsburg] lends itself to that.”

Saville rejects the sitcom vision of the Williamsburg elite popularized by the shortlived web series The ‘Burg.“It’s like, let’s take the joke and rape it,” he says in a rant. “OK, I get it, a stockbroker lives with a guy who has black-rimmed glasses, and they don’t get along. What’s next? I was interested in doing something about ambitious people in Williamsburg who were failing miserably.””

Continued:

“Saville notes that the Williamsburg manifested in his film has vanished to the extent that he wouldn’t make his movie today. “I think the circumstances have changed, and the people have changed,” he says, noting that

Anytime Cafe, which used to offer cheap drinks and provided a space for his production free of charge, no longer exists. “It’s gotten to be so expensive that I don’t know how anybody that can call themselves artists and live there. At the time, it was interesting, but I don’t feel the flame the way I felt it four years ago.””

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Peter Filichia at the Theatre World Awards 2006 (courtesy broadwayworld.com)

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They say of Williamsburg:

“Saville prefers master shots of his black-and-white canvas to allow his cast lots of room to roam, and there’s plenty of sharp dialogue to spare, such as Truman telling his bedside playmate, “A writer must stay objective. Objectively speaking, love is impossible.” There’s also a hilarious segment involving Will’s creative conference with Bed-Stuy rapper G-Train (Rayon Lawrence) about the casting for an upcoming music video titled “Land of a Thousand Hos,” with G-Train demanding, “I like my bitches exotic.” Whether or not this sequence is still funny during the post-Don Imus era, however, will be up to the viewer.” –Syracuse New Times, April 2007

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Peter Filichia, looking sharp (photo courtesy of Broadwayworld.com)

For those of you who don’t know who Peter Filichia is, he is the Theatre Critic for the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper in NJ and the Jersey station News 12. He’s also four terms deep as President / Chairman of the nominating committe of the Drama Desk Awards.

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WILLIAMSBURG has “Striking visual style that is uncommon in today’s independent cinema… Brilliantly framed. Williamsburg is an impressive and memorable achievement.” –Phil Hall, Filmthreat.com July 31, 2006

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