Routine

(2023)

You know that notebook that someone gave you as a gift? The exterior is gorgeous and you keep telling yourself that you’re going to journal or write morning pages, but you keep putting it off for… reasons. Life is a journal and we are writing our pages every day. Or, are we?

Routine explores themes of a lack of fulfillment, our dualistic nature, confronting our inner light and inner dark. There is an element of confinement and exploration. It explores liberation and the consequences of embracing that after a life of repression.

The film was an opportunity to continue to further uncover my style and aesthetic. I blend film noir with horror, comedy, and surrealist elements. Yet, there is an irreverence to the piece that makes clear that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There is fun to be had.

The film is about metamorphosis. He’s molting, shedding, and of course, in my genre-obsessed mind, portraying this in a surreal way is -- my way. I enjoy meta-fiction and stories where characters are questioning their realities. It helps me to piece together the abstraction that is life, something that film, theater, and even comic books have helped me do.

This film is for anyone who feels modern society has turned us into cogs in a wheel, or as represented in the film, fish in someone’s tank. To break from this prison of repression, we must break from our routines, take more risks in life, and be accountable for our choices.