Director in Focus: Pete Ohs' Delightful Curiosities, From I SEND YOU THIS PLACE to ERUPCJA

Opening this week in U.S. theaters, Erupcja is the newest creative work by the emerging U.S. filmmaker Pete Ohs.

My personal entry into his work came via last year's South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, where The True Beauty of Being Bitten By a Tick and OBEX screened. (That means I have a lot of catching up to do.)

Ohs served as cinematographer on Albert Birney's weird, quirky, and utterly unpredictable OBEX, shot in black and white to disorienting effect. Serving as his own cinematographer and editor, Ohs co-wrote and directed The True Beauty of Being Bitten By a Tick, which was co-written by and co-starred Jeremy O. Harris, whose startling hybrid work Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play was co-edited by ... Pete Ohs.

And, by the way, Jeremy O. Harris also co-wrote and co-stars in Ohs' latest, Erupjca, which I have now seen -- look for my review later this week -- and which made me intensely curious about Oh's past films.

First, where did Pete Ohs come from? Per his official site, he was born in Ohio. Credited as a co-editor on the 2006 TV movie Everyday Freedom Heroes, he began making music videos as early as Ghosthustler's "Parking Lot Nights" in 2007.

Ohs crossed over into the world of feature films with a co-directed documentary, which is not currently available for streaming, nor for buying or renting.

I Send You This Place (2012)

Our interview, conducted by Ben Umstead with Andrea Sisson and Pete Ohs: "a documentary of emotions, gauged, weighted and balanced by the environment these vessels of emotion (Sisson and Ohs) find themselves in. Enter the tumultuous and beguiling Iceland. For the ten months they lived in that land up north it wasn't their intention to make a film, but that is what Sisson and Ohs ended up with: An expression and exploration of self in one of the most fantastic places on Earth."

Everything Beautiful Is Far Away (2017)
Visit JustWatch to see options to rent or buy the film, or stream it with ads.

In Ben Umstead's interview above, he mentions Sisson and Ohs sent him a script for this film: "The new script's beauty comes in its formal simplicity and existential depth. It is the journey of a young man named Lernert, Susan his girlfriend -- who is merely a robot head -- and of Rola, a precocious and spirited young woman. The trio travel across a seemingly infinite expanse of desert in search of a mythical lake. It's a fairy tale like Star Wars is a fairy tale. That is if Star Wars took place entirely on Tatooine and was written by Miranda July. "

Youngstown (2021)
Visit JustWatch to see options to rent or buy the film.

Official synopsis: "Sarah Jayne Reynolds is in the witness protection program but she's a terrible liar. After another unsuccessful resettling, she ditches her new life and returns to her hometown to attend the annual fair she's never missed. But when her true identity is revealed, she's forced to choose between being something she's not and finally growing up."

Jethica (2022)
The film is now streaming on Prime Video.

Our review by J Hurtado: "Ohs's microbudget feature is an extremely specific kind of supernatural fiction. It's more rooted in exploring the trauma and shared relationships between these characters than any kind of mystical shenanigans. ... Delivers a fresh and empathetic look at the lingering trauma that victims of stalking endure, even when the actual experience is supposedly over."

Love and Work (2024)
The film is not currently available for streaming, nor for buying or renting.

Official synopsis: "Diane and Fox love to work. Unfortunately, they live in a polarized world where it's illegal to have a job."

The True Beauty of Being Bitten By a Tick
The film is not currently available for streaming, nor for buying or renting.

Our review by J Hurtado: "Ohs' has carved out a unique niche for this kind of low budget, high concept, low key genre adjacent work that examines modern anxieties and fears in a way that speaks to a generation raised on social media and the ever-present need be on display. The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick takes that anxiety of keeping up with the Joneses' and the fear of failing to live one's best life to an absurd end that can best be described as deliciously ludicrous. Viewer's reactions will vary widely based on their levels of tolerance or excitement for Ohs' ominously chill aura, but those who get it will really get it."

OBEX
Visit JustWatch to see options to rent or buy the film, or stream it with ads or with a public library card.

While Pete Ohs did not direct, he co-wrote and edited.

Our review by Mel Valentin: "If you're on OBEX's wavelength or frequency, i.e., attuned to its oddball charms, quirky humor, and irony-free, poignant exploration of its central themes, then OBEX will prove a deeply engaging, infinitely rewarding experience."

Erupcja
The film opens in limited theatrical release on Friday, April 17, via 1-2 Special. Visit their official site for more information.

Light as a feather, Erupcja -- the titular word is Polish, which translates to "Eruption" in English -- floats like a butterfly, following a couple from London as they visit Warsaw, Poland, on the verge of a turning point in their lives.

Mount Aetna in Italy has just erupted, which serves both as the opening image in the delightful film, as well as its overriding theme. Bethany (Charli XCX) and her boyfriend Rob (Will Madden) have been together for some time. Warsaw native Nel (Lena Góra) inherited a flower shop from her mother. At the outset, the three of them appear to have nothing in common. Yet two of them are drawn inexorably together, for reasons best explained by the film itself.

I'll get into all this in my review, which will run a bit later today. Erupcja unfolds delicately, even as it slowly transforms into something else. In essence, it rearranges the blocks of a relationship movie into an utterly enchanting and distinctive experience that is wryly thoughtful and feels very personal for the filmmaker.

As opposed to The True Beauty of Being Bitten By a Tick, which is weird and mysterious and transfixing, Erupcja is reminiscent of an Eastern European New Wave film from the 1960s. It's mod and cool, which stands in contrast to his previous film, though both are exquisitely framed and edited, no surprise since Pete Ohs also served as his own cinematographer and editor on the films.

Erupcja is confirmation that Pete Ohs still has many open roads yet to explore, as he fashions each of his films as individual expressions of his artistic creativity.

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