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
- Make-up
- Anusha Solanki
- Wardrobe
- Louisa Thomas
- 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
- CS
Commission
- Commissioner
- Rik Green
- Label
- Warp Records
David Knight - 30th May 2023