The Human Cave from Mu-Ming Tsai on Vimeo.
This short film came after my overtly "cerebral" period in filmmaking. One of the most common notes my teachers gave me was that a lot of my films were way too "intellectual" in a negative sense, which meant that I spent too much time polishing dialogue and conceptualizing that I often neglected the emotional side of filmmaking. In "The Human Cave" I tried to strike a balance between the emotional and the idea, and the results were rewarding. I regard this film as one of my favorites to date.
I think this case was also a great example of how being open minded can benefit to the production. Originally in the script I assumed that the counselor would be a 20-ish young lawyer, but Shahaub (Who plays Doug) suggested Steven Cloyes whom he knew from the Beverley Hills playhouse in SF to play the character of the counselor. It then occurred to me that it was actually a better choice than what I originally intended, because it gave the story a totally new father-son dynamic. Steven was already a great actor, the subtext I gave him was that Doug was the son that he never had, which changed the whole way he portrayed the character.
Shahaub on the other hand is an extremely talented natural actor, somebody who can nail both slapstick comedy and serious drama. We discussed the moment when he realized he had a son outside, and we talked about how we would react to something with such a great impact on our outlook towards life. We realized when serious shit happens, our first reaction is laugh, then cry. Life tends to be the most absurdly funny from time to time, albeit all the pain.
A side note: if you are a fan of Japanese horror manga artist Junji Ito, that's where the idea of "The Human Cave" came from. Shhhhh...!
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