With “Slowly, Quickly”, I want to express a man’s pains, frustrations, fears with moving on from a previous relationship. Though there are a mix of spontaneous actions and erratic emotions in the film, Martin St. James, our central character, is trying his best, in the only way he knows how, to move on. Gina is perhaps more prepared than Martin to make a risk, emotionally. She remains sweet, affectionate and supportive, despite his actions.
My philosophy with film is that we shouldn’t have to convince the audience of anything. In the case of this film, we, in every sense of the word -- we the filmmaker, we the film, we the audience -- are the mutual best friend to the two characters. We hear it from both sides, without making judgements, without taking sides, without coming to conclusions. Yes, there is a dilemma. Yes, we want to help. We know we are watching something unfold that we can’t control, despite a lifetime of watching films that instruct us not to worry, everything will be okay. This is simply not the case in real life... nor in my films.
In the end, we are given a hope -- the same hope Martin is given. Gina is willing to play by his terms. It is now up to Martin to decide whether or not he opens up more, and when exactly that will be.
