Kurzinhalt:

Man sollte die Mund-zu-Mund-Beatmung beherrschen, wenn man Teil der Gruppe "Spark" werden will. Jederzeit kann jemand in Lebensgefahr geraten. Die 16-jährige Londonerin Sherry haut von zu Hause ab. In Berlin stößt sie auf eine kleine Gruppe Jugendlicher, die auf zwei klapprigen Kleinbussen in Richtung Portugal reisen. Sie nennen sich SPARK (Street People armed with radical Knowledge), gabeln Straßenkids auf, ersetzten Heroin mit Methadon und bieten ihnen ein neues, ihnen unbekanntes Gemeinschaftsgefühl an. Sherry fühlt sich vom charismatischen Gruppenhäuptling Harry angezogen und schließt sich der bunten Truppe an. Doch bald kommen ihr Zweifel an dessen Zielen: Harry erweist sich zunehmend als selbstherrlich und wird brutal. Die von ihm aufgestellten Gemeinschaftsregeln sind streng und deren Missachtung führt zu erniedrigenden Strafen. Als ein erstes Mitglied der Gruppe stirbt und kurze Zeit später ihre besorgte Mutter Rose auftaucht, wird Sherry klar, dass etwas geschehen muss

Backgroundinformationen:

Regisseurin Alison Murray, die vor allem durch ihre Musikvideos bekannt geworden ist, basiert ihren ersten Spielfilm auf eigene Erlebnisse in der Hausbesetzerszene der 80er Jahre. Die Kanadierin zeichnet ein ebenso widersprüchliches wie beängstigendes Bild einer dubiosen Selbsthilfegruppe, deren Strukturen sich irgendwo zwischen Sekte und Kommune einzuordnen sind. Mit inszenatorischer Risikobereitschaft zum Unkonventionellen verdeutlicht sie wie schmal der Grat zwischen enthusiastischem Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl und seelische Manipulation sein kann. Mouth to Mouth schildert in packender und visuell eindringlicher Weise Außenseitertum und eine Gruppendynamik, das bis ins sektenhafte Extrem getrieben wird.
Der Film wurde in Berlin, Lissabon und London gedreht und hat im Jahr 2005 beim Brooklyn International Film Festival den Grand Chameleon Award gewonnen.

Kommentar von Alison Murray:

I left home when I was 15. The energy and vitality of youth is paramount to the film. Like me at that age, the film's heroine Sherry is searching for a place to belong where she can still be herself. She thinks she has found this in SPARK - Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge. I tried to create an organization I would want to join, SPARK was the result. Harry, SPARK's leader, says "Most organizations aimed at helping the homeless want you to fit back in, and contribute to society, like you should get off the street, into a house, into a 9 to 5 job...but maybe there's another way." To me, SPARK's appeal lies in offering those who have fallen through the cracks a chance to pull their lives together, without having to become cogs in the wheel.
The down and out characters SPARK recruits are clever, witty and sardonic. I tried to show the tenacity of these people on the margins in an irreverent, humorous way. It is the apparently craziest street person, Mad Ax, who is the least taken in by SPARK's rhetoric. He appreciates Sherry's innocence and feistiness, and falls in love with her. She rejects him, but inspires him to break out of his apathy. This strange relationship between Sherry and Mad Ax is my favorite thing in the film, a love story. Sherry leaves the group after compromising what she believes in order to find acceptance. At the end of the film she stands up for what she knows is right, aware that she will go out into the world totally alone, but with her freedom and individuality intact. Others joined the group easily prepared to give their power away, in exchange for the security and sense of righteousness that being part of a group can bring. George Orwell's Animal Farm was a classic inspiration for exploring this meeting point of politics and human nature.
Although SPARK helps some of its members, my own disillusionment with 'alternative lifestyles' is reflected in the story. In my teens I lived for several years in squatted buildings in London, teetering on the edge of homelessness. I met and was inspired by political activists who wanted to change the world. The let down was hard when I discovered so many of these people to be armchair anarchists whose daily lives were little different to anyone else's. The utopia we were meant to be building never materialized. But at least there was a good party along the way.
I intend the film to look to the audience as the world looks to Sherry as she experiences it. As she travels from Northern to Southern Europe the dramatically changing landscape illustrates the mood. We experimented with how far we could push the limits of the HD blow up process from 16mm to 35, to create our unique look of saturated colors, sometimes blown out, sometimes shadowy. During the shoot, we often used very long master shots, which we grabbed just as the sun was about to set, rehearsing the shot again and again as we waited for the perfect light.
I used my background in dance and physical theatre to express the deeper emotions of the characters. Choreography is central to many films I admire, the fight choreography of Raging Bull, and the soldiers in Claire Denis' Beau Travail. I love the heightened and intense physical drama dance conveys, but I am often puzzled as to why the dancers are going through the angst their contorted bodies express so powerfully.
With Mouth to MouthI was able to create choreography where the audience knows exactly why the characters move as they do, because they have spent the previous thirty minutes getting to know the characters' stories. The choreography flows naturally from the characters' interactions and does not reflect conventional dance styles. I tried to work with the unique physicality of the individual actors to create something believable yet heightened. I hope the overall style to be truthful, yet poetic. The moments where Sherry physically touches and is touched by the other characters speak the most.

Pressestimmen:

• "Ellen Page is going to be a superstar." - Toronto Sun
• "An affirmation of freedom. A gripping and painful story of mind control and forced conformity." - National Post
• "...one of those films that crawls under your skin and doesn't let go." - Kino Magazine
• "Exquisite." - Toronto Globe and Mail
• "...uncompromising..." - Artrocker

Auszeichnungen:

• Grand Chameleon Award (Alison Murray, Brooklyn International Film Festival, 2005)
• Best Feature (Brooklyn International Film Festival, 2005)
• Best Feature (Britspotting Festival Berlin, April 2006)
• Jury Prize (Festival D' Annonay, Frankreich, Februar 2007)
• Music Prize (Festival D' Annonay, Frankreich, Februar 2007)
• High School Prize (Festival D' Annonay, Frankreich, Februar 2007)

Fakten:

• Die Geschichte beruht hauptsächlich auf den Erlebnissen von Alison Murray, die selbst einmal in einer Sekte lebte
• Ellen Page fand die Szene bei der Sherry ihre Jungfräulichkeit verliert am unangenehmsten, da es sehr lange dauerte bis sie im Kasten war und die Pflastersteine gleichzeitig sehr kalt waren
• Alle Crewmitglieder musste für den Film ihre Haare abrasieren, so dass der Film in der Reihenfolge dreht wurde, wie er auch später veröffentlicht worden ist. Lediglich Ellen lief einen vollen Tag mit ihrem nur halbrasierten Haar herum