Cahill, Mike

The early years

Mike Cahill was born July 5, 1979 in New Haven , Connecticut ^[1] in a family of medical scientists, his two older brothers became neurosurgeons ^{[2] [3]} .

At the age of 10, Cahill was so admired by the movie that he wanted to become a director. He bought his first camera at a pawnshop for $ 100, when he was still a schoolboy ^{[2] [1]} .

Cahill made his first film with a friend at the age of 17. It was a documentary on The Pocket about go-go music in the District of Columbia ^[2] .

Studying at Georgetown University

After leaving school, Cahill studied for several months as a physician, and then studied economics at Georgetown University , graduating in 2001 ^{[4] [5] [2]} .

During his studies at the University, Cahill established close professional and friendly relations with Brit Marling , whom he met at the Georgetown Film Festival ^[6] . According to Cahill, together with another friend, also a student at Geogetown University and future film director Zal Batmanglidzh , they formed a kind of film group ^[2] . Cahill, along with Brit, shot short films in which Brit played the main roles, after which he shot documentaries for eight years, after which he suggested trying to make a feature film ^{[2] [7]} . According to Cahill, in 2011 “The Hall and I put on my first full-length films, in both films Brit was a co-author of the script and a leading actor. Both films went to Sundance and both were acquired by Fox Searchlight . And all this happened ten years after we met. It was rather strange ” ^[2] .

Career at National Geographic

During his undergraduate studies, Cahill began an internship at National Geographic , soon becoming their youngest full-time field producer, editor and cameraman ^{[5] [2]} . “After several years of shooting sharks, turtles and other marine life,” Cahill moved to Cuba , where during the year he shot the award-winning documentary Boxers and Ballerinas ^[1] .

Boxers and Ballerinas (2004)

The documentary Boxers and Ballerinas talks about the boxer and ballerina who live in Cuba, and another boxer and one ballerina who are also Cubans, but who live in Miami . The film does not answer the question whose life is better ^{[3] [2]} .

Works 2006–09

Then Cahill moved to Los Angeles , where he was invited as the editor of two music documentaries for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival - Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2005) about Leonard Cohen and Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out ”(2006) about the group The Police ^{[1] [5]} . Cahill was also the producer and director of several episodes of the documentary-journalistic television series True Life ^{[1] [2]} .

Influences on Cahill's work

Cahill's work was greatly influenced by popular science literature, particularly in the field of astronomy. In Los Angeles, Cahill shared a house with Marling and Batmanglig , where he “stretched out on the floor, listening to the audio book of astronomer Richard Berendzen , protege Karl Sagan , who gave a poetic twist to astrophysical mathematics ” ^{[8] [4]} .

Cahill admitted that he loves science fiction films such as The Twelve Monkeys (1995) and The Child of Man (2006), as well as Metaphysical Films with Inversion by Krzysztof Kieslowski , especially The Double Life of Veronica (1991), as well as his the color trilogy “ Red ” (1994), “ White ” (1994) and “ Blue ” (1993). In these films “the big questions of fate and choice are posed”, and in “Double Life of Veronica” he was also “attracted by the idea of ​​the existence of another you with whom your soul can come into contact” ^[5] . In addition, the action of Kieslowski’s films takes place in reality and people live ordinary lives, but at the same time something magical happens on a deeper level. ”Another film that inspired Cahill is“ Basque ”(1996) by Julian Schnabel ^[2] .

The Other Earth (2011)

In December 2009, Cahill decided to make his first feature film, “ Another Earth, ” where he directed, co-wrote, producer, cameraman and editor. The film was included in the competition program of the Sundance Film Festival in 2011, where it won the Special Jury Prize and Alfred Sloan Prize, and immediately after the festival was purchased for rental by Fox Searchlight ^{[1] [5] [9]} .

Cahill says: “I made a film, I made a film, I made a film and I was a co-author of the film’s script, so on the set I didn’t need to communicate with a lot of people, I didn’t have to explain to the operator how to shoot this or that scene " ^[2] . According to Cahill, the shooting was carried out in the house of his mother and his friend, and with the help of a familiar policeman for shooting, the street and even a four-lane highway were blocked ^[7] . The budget of the film amounted to no more than 100 thousand dollars ^[2] .

The film begins with the news that a previously unknown planet revolves around the Sun , which is completely identical to the Earth . On this day, Roda, a 17-year-old talented student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( Brit Marling ), thinking about life on another planet, becomes the culprit of the accident, which killed a pregnant woman with a child. Four years later, Roda leaves the prison and, wanting to somehow compensate for the loss, incognito gets a housekeeper in the house of the widowed husband of the woman she killed ( William Mapoter ). Gradually, closer and closer relations begin to develop between them, at the same time, Roda submits an application for participation in the flight to the twin planet of the Earth ^{[5] [2]} .

At the Sundance festival, “Another Earth” “became a small sensation due to the clever linking of the classic movie drama with a touch of existential mystery, not to mention the unflappable planet that hovers over the Earth in many scenes” ^[8] . Film critic Phil Brown called the film "a strange little film with a metaphysical sci-fi story in the background and a morally controversial indie drama in the foreground." According to Marling, they tried to make such a film that even if you get rid of the sci-fi component, it will still be a very strong film ^[7] . As film critic Tasha Robinson noted, “the original premise of the film is definitely science fiction, but the story is played out as an indie drama that explores metaphysical issues sadly, softly, and with deep force. The film has a sense of real life, but with a certain poetry. It is like poetic realism ” ^[2] . Dennis Overbay notes that Cahill sees The Other Earth as a science fiction film, despite the small amount of computer graphics , heartbreaking pictures and other special effects that have become characteristic features of the genre. “The Other Earth” is not science fiction of the plan that we expect - there are no special effects or monsters. Moreover, like science fiction - he is ridiculous. The unexpected appearance of a duplicate of the Earth does not have any astronomical meaning and contradicts almost everything that we know about gravity and the orbits of planets ” ^[4] . According to Cahill, the film comes from one of the sharpest ideas of modern physics. It seems to allow the multiverse to exist. We are trying to understand the universe through this idea of ​​multiplicity - that there are other versions of you and an infinite number of versions of each person. Cahill says: “I want to encourage viewers to think if you were standing outside of yourself and just watching yourself, what would you say about this strange creature?” ^[10] .

“I am the beginning” (2014)

In 2014, at the Sundance Film Festival , Cahill presented his new film, I Am the Beginning , which, like The Other Earth, was awarded the Russian Alfred Sloan Prize Festival ^[11] .

The film’s protagonist, molecular biologist Ian Gray ( Michael Pitt ), along with his assistant Karen ( Brit Marling ) conducts research on the evolution of the eye in the hope of finding at the genetic level transitional forms of living things from the blind to the sighted, and to isolate the specific DNA that is responsible for the appearance of the eye. Against the background of intensive scientific research, Ian begins a passionate romance with the mysterious Sophie ( Astrid Berger-Frisbee ), who is of the opinion that the scientific knowledge of the world is limited. At the moment when Karen manages to isolate a unique DNA, showing the mechanism of appearance of vision in living beings, Sophie dies in an accident. Seven years later, when Ian was already the author of a widely recognized monograph on the evolution of the eye and married to Karen, a series of events and his subsequent studies show several strange coincidences in the pattern of the ocular cornea , suggesting the possibility of reincarnation .

Film critic Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter wrote that this “very complex and visually luxurious film, immersed in a rather mysterious but fascinating field of scientific research ... reaches an exceptional balance between the emotional and intellectual aspects of its unusual story,” further noting that Cahill "puts his exciting excitement directorial gift at the service of history with versatile romantic, biological and metaphysical aspects" ^[12] . Claudia Puig, in USA Today , described the film as a “fascinating low-tech sci-fi thriller” that explores a territory “where science ends and the spiritual realm begins.” Calling the film “a fascinating meditation on the theme of faith and science that skillfully balances the emotional and intellectual aspects”, Puig notes that “the most exciting moments of“ I am the beginning ”take place in a foggy region of the inexplicable, and despite some plot holes, the film works well on several levels. " The critic concludes that the film is “charming, anxious and makes you think,” and its “ending makes an energetic twist that will certainly ignite the discussion” ^[13] .

According to Cahill, “ I am the beginning ” is the story preceding the film “I”, which should take place 20 years after the events described. “We worked on“ I, ”but were unable to complete the work due to difficulties encountered in writing the story. We decided not to force the work, so as not to produce not quite a good film. But I wanted to release something, and I had a rich up-front story for “I”, and therefore we first released “ I am the Beginning ” as a small ultra-low-budget film for a million dollars ” ^[14] . Searchlight owned the rights to all the prequels and sequels of “I” that Cahill had already sold to the company, but Cahill wanted to do “I am the beginning” independently and sell it on Sundance in the same way as with the first film. Searchlight agreed with this, and, in the end, purchased the rights to rent the finished film after the premiere at Sundance in 2014 ^[14] .

According to Cahill, he is currently working on the sequel “I am the Beginning”, as well as on a film about aliens ^[15] .

• Mike Cahill at IMDB
• Mike Cahill at Allmovie
• Mike Cahill at Turner Classic Movies
• Mike Cahill on Rotten Tomatoes website