Gals and Dolls

Translating a photograph into a film is tricky. But translating
photographs of puppets, dolls and objects with legs (think walking
guns, clocks and cakes) into a full-blown musical motion picture is
downright challenging.

Photographer Laurie Simmons, who is known for her photographs of
such objects, accomplishes this feat as she brings them to life in
the movie musical “The Music of Regret,” which is
screening at the UCLA Hammer Museum on Wednesday.

Simmons described her photography’s focus as “women
in interior space.” A number of her photographs consist of
paper-doll women in dollhouse scenes.

“I’ve been like a dog with a bone,” she said.
“My pictures have been variances of the same
subject.”

According to Michael Rohatyn, the film’s composer,
consistency is not the only notable aspect of Simmons’ work;
the themes of the film are both timely and relevant to life.

“I think it’s true to its title,” he said.
“I think that disappointment, regret and that kind of
background worry of wondering if you’ve blown it, is
basically at this moment a very American emotion.”

The 40-minute film consists of three separate acts. The first is
about a disagreement between two puppet families. The second is a
romance between a woman (played by Meryl Streep) and a dummy. The
third consists of a performance by legged objects (portrayed by the
Alvin Ailey II dance company). All three acts are inspired by
Simmons’ photographic work, pieces that date back to the
1980s.

Simmons is the first to tell you that there’s a big
difference between photography and filmmaking.

“I was thinking about the film like thousands of still
images. … Each theme, each moment I had to think not only what
the character and subject was, but each move,” she said.
“It was very overwhelming to switch from still photography to
time-made work.”

However, Simmons, as a first-time filmmaker, was by no means
alone in her filmmaking endeavor ““ she had the help and
experience of such big names as the award-winning Streep,
cinematographer Ed Lachman (“The Virgin Suicides,”
“Erin Brockovich”) and Rohatyn, who also composed
scores for films such as “The Ballad of Jack and Rose”
and “Arctic Son.”

“In some sense, I didn’t even have an expectation
because I didn’t understand the possibilities,” Simmons
said. “Someone like the cinematographer Ed Lachman could take
my vision and interpret it, and explain to me what the
possibilities were, and even then the result was so much more than
I’d ever hoped for.”

From the other side, Rohatyn especially appreciated the message
behind the film.

“The politics in Laurie’s art and the popular
commentary on Laurie’s art are at a very high level and they
are transmitted very elegantly,” Rohatyn said. “I hope
people just enjoy it and by the end of the (film) they …
can’t believe what they just saw and … they talk about it
with a smile.”

“The Music of Regret” premiered at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York in May 2006 and elicited a reaction from
viewers that did not necessarily correspond with Simmons’
expectations.

“The audience started to laugh at certain parts and I was
just sinking lower and lower in my seat. I had taken every aspect
of what I had done so seriously,” she said. “I was so
taken aback by the idea that people would be laughing, and
I’ve always considered humor, at least in my own work, to be
one of the simplest interpretations, and not an interpretation that
I really savor.

“My expectations of what the viewer would take from the
film clearly weren’t in line with what has actually happened
in the subsequent screenings,” she added.

But surely the Hammer Museum’s respect for Simmons and her
work is a testament to the artistic merit of the film.

“With the opening of the Billy Wilder Theater, we’re
also trying to program more artist-made films, as we now have this
beautiful stage to present them in, so Laurie (is one of the first)
artists to be featured in this new series of artists,” said
James Bewley, director of public programs and education at the
Hammer Museum.

Rohatyn also spoke on behalf of the effectiveness of the
film’s intrigue.

“I’ve become very self-conscious of my music,”
he said. “But watching “˜The Music of Regret’ I
definitely am able to sort of drift into Laurie’s
world.”

Simmons, like so many other artists, just wants her audience to
be affected by what they see on screen.

“I hope that (viewers) find the combination of image and
music as powerful as I do,” she said.