We chat to the director of intelligent Laos horror Dearest Sister…
‘Well actually, I think I came to London when I was six years old or something,’ Laos filmmaker Mattie Do tells me. ‘All I remember is my parents telling me I need to see the guy with the red coat and the weird hat, and I need to be more appreciative. They just stuffed me full of chocolate digestives and told me to shut the f**k up,’ she laughs.
Well it can hardly get more ‘London’ than our present surroundings, the May Fair Hotel, in that very affluent area of the West End of the same name. We’re at the annual filmmaker tea events put on during the London Film Festival, tucked behind one of the hotel’s main restaurants. And as if that wasn’t British enough, Mattie has nabbed a scone from the cakes trolley. She’s also very sweetly picked one up for me, after I complained that I’d never managed to get one on previous occasions. It’s such a genuine act of kindness that I don’t have the heart to point out that, by pre filling it, the hotel staff have entered into one of the most controversial matters concerning the scone (more so than even how it’s pronounced): whether to apply the jam or clotted cream first.
For Mattie it’s turned into something of a whirlwind promoting her latest film, Dearest Sister. No stranger to the fantasy and horror festival circuit after her feature debut Chanthaly in 2013, its mix of ghostly visions and intelligent social commentary has brought her to the attention of more prestigious festivals. It tells of a distant cousin who comes to live with a woman whose deteriorating sight appears to give her the ability see ghosts, after which her random mutterings turn out to be winning lottery numbers. Unaware of this, the cousin soon exploits the knowledge to her own gain. But encasing all this is a great level of examination into Laos’ social strata, and perception of class between its female characters. As Romero, Cronenberg or Craven can attest, horror is a dish best served wryly.
Mattie Do. (And scone…)
But if that gives the impression of someone who’s learned their profession via the usual film school route, it could hardly be further from the truth.
‘Oh my god, you haven’t heard my story? I’m an accidental filmmaker! I had no clue I’d be making films. I still know nothing about film,’ she admits. ‘People talk me all the time about, “Did you see the work of so and so?” and I’m like “Who?” I have awkward moments where I run into celebrities and I have no idea who the hell they are. And I say stupid things and embarrass myself because I always pronounce their names and that sort of thing.’
(I make a mental note to scratch through half of my questions!)
‘Because I was a ballet dancer before this. I went to cosmetology school after high school because my mother got quite ill and I needed to help support the family with my brothers and father. She passed away from cancer when I was 24 or 25, so I went into ballet conservatory very late, because I couldn’t afford it. And when I did, I started doing makeup, since I had the degree, on set in Italy to pay for my point shoes. So I was a makeup artist at this huge place, Cinecittà. It’s like the Hollywood of Rome, and at the national film school, JUST to buy my fricking point shoes!’
‘I have no film background whatsoever. When we moved to Laos, we moved back there because my father wanted us to move back to Laos. He had married another woman who was quite young, and so I said to my husband “Oh no, dad’s gone nuts! We’ve have to go to Laos and see what dad’s doing!” So my husband, the whippet and I went back, and we encountered the president and vice president of Laos Art Media at a party for the Luang Prabang Film Festival. And they were really interested in my husband [Chris Larsen]. They were like, “You’re a screenwriter? We need content!” Because Laos film is floundering, it’s not really thriving. So he told them, “I can do that, I can give you content.” And then they said “And we need directors! Because we’re not getting any younger and we’re not interested in directing anymore. It’s too difficult to direct.” So my husband replied, “Well I’m not interested in directing, I’m a screenwriter. Plus I don’t speak Laos!”’
‘So it ended up being three men in this office, and myself, and I think my husband started to see this job slipping away through his fingers,’ she laughs. ‘He got really panicked and said, “She can do it! She can direct!” And the president was literally looking around and thinking, was there someone else in the room? Who else is here? And he meant me! So as not to make my older superiors lose face I was bowing, saying, “It was good to meet you. We’ll talk about some ideas.” We came home and it was a scream fest! “What the hell were you thinking? I can’t direct the film! I don’t know anything about film! Are you crazy???”’
‘So [Chris] threw a book at me called Directing, by Michael Rabiger, and said “Read this book and you’ll be fine.” And that’s exactly what I did and I made my first film,’ she laughs at how ridiculous it sounds now. But it seems he wasn’t wrong when he told her, “It’s just like ballet, you’ll be okay!”
And with that film also concerning ghostly apparitions, I wonder what it is that attracts her.
‘Well I love the ghost genre. I love The Others and Guillermo del Toro films. And then in ballet, ghosts play a prominent part of ballet stories too. So Chanthaly is very much rooted in ballet; it’s the ballet Giselle and also the life loss of my mother. And Dearest Sister is rooted in the ballet La Bayadère. Because I think this is what I can pull from my background. But then… I just really like ghosts, so… whatever!’ she laughs.
Actually that starts to make sense, as ballets often take the most gothic, darkest fairy tales as their inspiration. Something Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger exploited when they came to make The Red Shoes, with its (then) fictionalised ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story. At points it’s far more disturbing than Powell’s very British Psycho, Peeping Tom, which came later. I heartily recommend it to Mattie.
‘As a culture, Laos people are super into ghosts. They believe ghost exist with them on a daily basis. Our ghosts are not always the see-through, sheer, “oooooh” type. They’re solid human beings who visit you. They come to you in dreams and very physical forms. And that’s something I thought was very unique to South East Asia, so I wanted to portray that too. Because there are ghosts in every country, but ours are always present. In fact every full moon we have a day where we believe that you have to make offerings and be very careful what you do when you go out or stay up late at night, because it’s when the veil between the living and the dead is even thinner. And every time something happens and it’s on a full moon, a lot of people say it’s because of this day. They’ll say, “that was a haunting, I got haunted!”.
So Mattie may have missed out on a film education, but have any in particular left their mark on her?
‘Oh you would be super surprised! My favourite movie is Ratatouille, because I feel like it’s this struggle for this lower than lower class denizen of society – he’s not even a part of society – to succeed.’ Perhaps less surprisingly, her other choice again comes from ballet, Black Swan. ‘I love how she’s going so mad because of the pressure she and her mother have put on herself. Those are the films that have influenced me most.’
Mattie rattles off her answers at quite a pace, which is just as well as my short time is coming to a close. I wonder what next for her? More ghosts?
‘I want to do ghosts ALL the time, but to be honest my next film will be sci fi. It’s a time travel serial killer film set in rural Laos. It will be Laos first sci fi film!’ she laughs. ‘Actually it will have many of the same cast members. We don’t really have actors in Laos, so it tends to be baptism by fire, and whoever makes it stays!’
It’s been a pleasure chatting to Mattie, and I can’t wait to see what comes next in her career. There’s just time for a selfie with Mattie before I scuttle off and finish my scone.
Dearest Sister screened as part of the 60th BFI London Film Festival 2016, and is available to stream on Shudder.
Shout out to regular easternKicks.com reader Rod Meek to being our link to the Dearest Sister team!
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