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Squid 'The Blades' by Kasper Häggström

David Knight - 30th May 2023

Kasper Häggström's channels some 20th century greats - Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Tony Hancock - in a masterclass of comic absurdity and stark relatability for Squid, graced by a wonderful performance by Charlotte Ritchie.

To explain the storyline of the video for The Blades could be regarded as an unnecessary spoiler. But suffice to say that a credible conceit - when a boy unspools hundreds of tickets from a waiting room ticket dispenser and departs the scene with them in his backpack - is the jumping off point for a brilliant, entirely unspoken performance from Ritchie, caught in the Kafka-eque twisted logic of the institution in which she enters.

As well as Häggström's superb direction of the actors - Tamsin Heatley is also marvellous as an indomitable bureaucrat - and deadpan visual comedy, the viewer is also challenged to find something darker lurking underneath. What is it about the entrance/exit to the building that keeps drawing Ritchie's and the camera's eye? And once she leaves her purgatory, is this the same world as before she went in?

Kasper Häggström at his brilliant best. Indeed, even with the great work for Kelly Lee Owens, Radiohead and others, this actually may be his very best video.

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David Knight - 30th May 2023

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Kasper Häggström
Producer
Hattie Jackson
Production Company
Epoch Films
Executive Producer
Megan Campbell
Production Manager
Nahal Ashrafi
1st AD
Rose Esme Lucas
2nd AD
Dan Pachalski
PA
Josephine James
Location Manager
Sidal Erguder

Camera

Director of Photography
James Blann
Focus Puller
Mark Gee
2nd AC
Callum Reeves
DIT
Judy Tett

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Matt Bohun
Sparks
Charlie Lodge, Oscar Whaley

Art

Production designer
Chloe Brady
Art Assistants
Dan Westwood, Portia Van De Bramm, Claudia Neville

Wardrobe

Wardrobe
Louisa Thomas
Make-up
Anusha Solanki
HMU Assistant
Cristina Nogales

Casting

Casting director
Ilenka Jelowicki
Lead actor
Charlotte Ritchie
Lead actor
Tamsin Heatley
Cast
David Lanigan, Bertie Brennan, Paul Fuller, Sean Patrick Brooks, Hulya Corty, Lina Goga, Kai Messiah

Editorial

Editor
Patrick Larsgaard
Editing company
Bacon OSL
Edit Producer
Rebekka Helene Rognoy
Clean Up And Online
Emanuel Kambo

Grading

Colour Producer
Eli Sandal
Colourist
Didrik Bråthen
Colour grade company
Tmls

Agent

Director's Representation

Commission

Commissioner
Rik Green
Label
Warp Records

David Knight - 30th May 2023

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