The Builder

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🎙️ EPISODE 276: 07.13.20 The early duo of films by Rick Alverson are often described as portraits of an immigrant's inability to reconcile "the American ideal and its manifestation in the real world." In both this film and the subsequent New Jerusalem, released a year later, our lens is Irish actor Colm O'Leary. O'Leary co-wrote both films as well. Writing in this sense is arbitrary: the dialogue is largely unscripted; story occurs in fragments, and will continue to do so over the course of the filmography, more or less. Other than our protagonist's accent, I'm not sure how relevant the immigrant experience is on a larger thematic level. The Builder is about being an outsider, and any outsider can relate.

These films are not about confronting the void of existential dread; they're about filling in the gaps of an existence where existential dread is the default. Each of Alverson's five films to date handle this subject from a different angle ¹?. In the case of The Builder, it's about work, the act of making or simply doing: starting from literally nothing and crafting something, anything out of your life. In this case, it's a house, a cabin in the woods. But as we quickly find, the weight of the void is too heavy. Our builder really isn't building much except a growing pile of regret and resentment.

Visually, while Aversion is still finding his footing here, the shots are all superbly constructed. Cuts to black intersect the action abruptly throughout, a device which at first feels amateurish but ultimately works to drive home the feeling of detachment. Nothing much happens but minutes pass: he hits golf balls with a redheaded nephew, eats soup, speaks about Québécois doors... The story happens in any direction...

The credits attribute these first two movies to an "R. Alverson." The characters in The Builder don't have names either. Nothing fundamentally concrete is established in The Builder, but–nonetheless–something has been made. Like most work, it exists to be unraveled by time and, in this case, his follow-up feature, New Jerusalem.

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FOOTNOTES:
1. I've addressed this further with my Director Focus piece on Rick Alverson, which I implore you to check out if you have any interest. [BACK]

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 275 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 276B ⫸

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