Hip to be 'Square'

With recent Oscars awarded to Moulin Rouge! and last year's Chicago, it is clear that musicals are making a comeback in Hollywood. But UW students won't have to look to Tinsel Town to catch the latest full-blown movie musical.

Square, a 60-minute musical written, produced, directed by and starring UW students, makes its splashy premiere Friday, 7 p.m., at the HUB. Admission is free.

The film, shot in color and on digital video, is a modern love fable that uses the movie musical genre as a metaphor for what love can ideally be, and how difficult it is to achieve that kind of love in contemporary times.

"I have a life-long love of film," said Nathan Williams, the film's director and UW senior.

That love inspired him to spruce up the local film scene after Williams and his roommate (and producer), Michael Allen, came to the rainy city.

"It's not that hard nowadays - if you have digital video - to make a film," Williams said. "Lots of actors are willing to work, so we said, 'Why not?'"

The pair started making films their sophomore year and formed Portcullis Productions. Square, probably the duo's most ambitious undertaking, was originally written two years ago, filmed last summer, with post-production completed only recently.

Williams said that the title is old-fashioned, a commentary on how the film's married couple aren't exactly "hip" and are caught up in the fantasy world of the classic movie musical.

"You can't make a musical without touching on the past," Williams said. "It's kind of like whether they are willing to sacrifice their fantasies in order to make their marriage work."

There are four significant musical numbers, plus a song played over the opening credits by local band, The Swains. Each song has its own style, mostly rooted in the past, from 1950s rock 'n' roll, ragtime, show tunes, even a Sinatra-esque ballad.

"We tried to mix it up," Williams said. "[But] the songs don't sound dated, they sound new."

Although shooting the relatively simple musical numbers was difficult, Williams believes it was the best way to tell the story, one that will hit close to home for the college crowd.

"It's about young people and relationships, dealing with their first encounter with the real world," he said.

Shooting this musical, Williams looked not to classic Hollywood musicals, but favorite filmmakers. These include satirical writer-director Preston Sturges and French auteurs like Jean Renoir and New Wave master Jean-Luc Godard.

For now, Williams plans to finish up at UW and is deciding which film school he'll attend in the fall (both Boston University and California Institute of the Arts have accepted him). Along with Allen, he'll make one more film this summer, but on a smaller scale than Square.

Anticipating a solid turnout for Friday's screening, Williams believes his movie should have wide appeal and is not limited to a specific audience.

"It's an enjoyable way to spend an hour, and many hours were spent to produce that hour for somebody else," he said with a laugh.