Indie Focus: Behind Closed Doors (Kaitlyn Boxall)

Ginger Paradise Productions, a project from independent filmmaker Kaitlyn Boxall, is best known for their tribute videos. This year, the young filmmaker has been working in a longer form, with the mid-length film Behind Closed Doors.

What is centrally a lengthier domestic violence warning/public service announcement, the film is notably good in terms of sound editing. Holly Prentice’s Lisa Crawford is the focus as her relationship’s toxicity is pointed out by a friend. And in a tense discussion with her partner Aaron (Vasile Marin), she tries to as for help, and suggests couple’s therapy, as a means to repair their dangerous relationship.

She brings up her having gone to therapy, and calls him Mr. Smith, creating a distance between the two. A clever sound mix in their fights mutes in some places, and adds an almost underwater white noise to other parts to work in the flashbacks, mimicking the all-encompassing nature of the relationship.

Boxall self describes her film as being written in a “tacticle style”, and it’s an accurate self assessment. Her story, with a screenplay written by Daniel Li, is less concerned with perfect movie dialogue, as the family scenes are quite realistically written as an ordinary argument in a bad marriage. What’s less realistic is the conversations in the therapist’s office, as these are far more expository. But the barbed words between Aaron and Lisa (especially from him) use the right amount of cliches to paint an accurate portrait of an abusive relationship. And repetitive wording as the scene grows violent isn’t cut out just to make a line sound smoother, and you can almost feel Aaron closing in.

Even for a low-budget, early production, it’s promising to see an ambitious project like this. Instead of just show reel proof of flashy editing, it’s solid, clean proof of an ability to tell an affecting story. Boxall shows promise while still a student in how she works to take on a potentially much broader story in a limited time frame. And while rushed, it’s consistent, with clear direction and believable performances.

Behind Closed Doors available here