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The Bad Batch
Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival September 8,2016
Plot (Spoiler Alert)Taking place in Texas in a post apocalyptic world, Arlen gets her right arm and leg cut off by cannibals. She escapes by killing one of them and uses everything she’s got to drag herself as far away from that place as she possible can. A hermit finds her out in the desert and takes her to a safe place called Comfort where she is taken care of. Five months later Arlen goes for a walk (now that she has a prosthetic leg) in the desert while holding a gun. She finds and kills a cannibal. A little girl, Honey was with the cannibal. Arlen has nothing against the kid and doesn’t want to leave her all alone in the desert, so she takes her back to Comfort. Arlen manages to lose Honey at a party after she wanders while Arlen herself gets high on a drug. Honey’s father is the cannibal leader known as Miami Man and he is now looking for his daughter. Arlen wakes up in the desert and Miami Man shows her a drawing he did of Honey and asks if she has seen her, but Arlen says “No”. Arlen and Miami Man are now working as a team to find Honey. 
Blaine: Ana Lily Amirpour said she wrote the script for “The Bad Batch” at a time when her life was savagely reconstructed. This idea came to Ana about a girl who has her arm and leg cut off, but is a survivor. The more Ana thought about it the more she wanted to know who the girl was and how she got there. Ana Lily Amirpour’s influences for “The Bad Batch” came from the 1970s western "El topo” and “Alice in Wonderland”. The characters in “The Bad Batch” don’t say a lot, in fact there’s no dialog during the first twenty minutes of the film. The characters in Ana Lily Amirpour’s first feature, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”, didn’t say much either. It’s ok that the characters might not say a lot as long as you know what’s going on and it’s interesting to see these two characters from different sides working together. It also interesting to see actors like Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey all together in one film. Ana Lily Amirpour said she wouldn’t have made "The Bad Batch" if Jason Momoa wasn’t on board, but she had a feeling that Jason would say yes to the project because she felt it was his destiny to be in “The Bad Batch". Jason Momoa was flattered to be offered a part that was written especially for him. There’s something about Jason that I feel has a strong presence. Miami Man's nationality is Cuban and Jason is Native Hawaiian, but he was able to do the Cuban accent very well. Jason Momoa is really good with throwing knives and when Ana met with him for the first time to discuss the project he was throwing knives at a piece of wood and she thought it would be a good idea for his character to be throwing knives. Jason can also paint and draw, so Ana added that as she was writing the part. Ana also felt actors like Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey would say yes to the project too. Keanu had already seen Ana’s first feature, “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night”, when she called him asking if he would be interested in the project. Keanu saw “The Bad Batch” as a love story between these two characters from different tribes and he thought it was a great opportunity to do something that sounded fun. He also thought of “The Bad Batch" as a rock n’ roll movie. His character’s name is The Dream, the leader of the town known as Comfort. Ana was at Burning Man and she saw these guys passing by with a boombox and she thought about putting Keanu Reeves on top of it. Ana had no idea who would play Arlen, but when Suki Waterhouse came in to audition it was clear to Ana that she should get the part. To be in “The Bad Batch” you would have to be strong because of what this movie was going to require like being out in a desert for one and that’s the first thing Suki was made clear on before the audition. Suki Waterhouse’s background is modeling, but she has done a bit of acting in her career. Suki felt very lucky being cast in “The Bad Batch”, but she was also terrified because this was her first big movie where she is the lead. She was also informed by Ana that this was going to be a difficult movie to make. Suki feels the best way for her to learn how to act is by watching herself after a take so that way she can improve herself more. Ana Lily Amirpour would act out a scene before shooting it and that was a big help for Suki. There was also a lot of rehearsal. The missing arm effect wasn’t entirely CGI. Suki would hide her arm behind her back and she’d get sore sometimes while doing it. Suki loved everything about this project except for the crows flying around her and getting close to her face when her character, Arlen, is out in the desert trying to get away from the cannibal area. When “The Bad Batch” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, the audience were aware that Jim Carrey was in the film, but they had a hard time finding him. His character is the hermit who has no dialog. Ana had reached out to Jim and he had no idea who she was before then, but he read the script for “The Bad Batch” and was really interested in the project after that. Jim also watched Ana’s first feature “A Girl Walks Home Alone” in order to get to know her work a little more and became of fan of her style in filmmaking. The number one question Ana had for Jim was if he’s ever done a movie where he doesn’t say one word because the character doesn’t talk at all. Jim had to be like a silent actor in “The Bad Batch”. Jim Carrey is uncredited in this movie, but his character feels like a main one next to Arlen and Miami Man. “The Bad Batch” was shot in a California drenched desert. Ana scouted a year for the right location to shoot the film, but what she found was a place that reeked of death and fish when it was hot. Ana and her camera man would shoot some tests while they were there. Ana figured her cast and crew would hate her for choosing a location like this to shoot “The Bad Batch”. Fortunately everyone was happy the days they shot there because it got cooler. It only took twenty eight days to shoot “The Bad Batch”, so they didn’t have to be out there that long. Ana Lily Amirpour has the mind of an artist. Her editor Alex O’Flynn said she was very much involved with the cinematography, editing and the art direction knowing how it should all look. After “The Bad Batch” had it’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Ana Lily Amirpour left the Film Festival feeling she was no longer needed there now that she had shared her film with an audience. However, Toronto Film Festival wasn’t finished with Ana because before it was going to end, Ana was informed she won the Special Jury Prize for her film. I enjoy watching Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch”, just as much as I enjoy watching her other film, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”. My rating on “The Bad Batch” is five out of five stars. Suki Waterhouse and Jason Momoa at the Toronto International Film Festival 
Ana Lily Amirpour with the Special Jury Prize 
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