We Go Way Back

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, Seattle writer/director Lynn Shelton's feature debut, We Go Way Back (SIFF '06), opens today at the Varsity Theater (4500 Ninth Avenue NE). Shelton will be at the 7 and 9:15pm screenings.

Here's a description from Landmark Theatres:

A hard-working young actress with a small theater company, Kate (Amber Hubert) lands her first leading role on her 23rd birthday. When she reads a cheerfully inquisitive birthday letter from her 13-year-old self, it seems she might actually be fulfilling childhood aspirations. But the letter triggers mounting confusion for Kate. As she bends to the whims of those around her with dwindling resistance, the protests of her adolescent self grow more hauntingly intrusive until, in a surrealistic turn, 13-year-old Katie (Maggie Brown) appears in the flesh, primed for a confrontation.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Shelton and Laura Veirs for a piece in this month's Seattle Sound. I didn't have space to mention this, but Shelton was listening to Veirs's music the entire time she was working on the script so, in a sense, the soundtrack came first and influenced the end product. I think this is partly why it works so well in the film (Shelton and Veirs are also in sync in terms of mood and tone).
I chatted with Shelton for literally hours. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the tape is almost impossible to understand as my recorder picked up and amplified every noise around us (and the space in which we met wasn't even that noisy). If possible, I'll post excerpts from that conversation here, but I make no promises.
*****
To read my original review, please click here. For more information about Lynn Shelton and We Go Way Back, please visit The Film Company. Photos by Mark Sullo.