Motern Madness: Matt Farley’s Cult Films Hit the Big Screen in the UK

I never know what I’m going to get into when my mate asks me to watch something. His taste is, usually, exceptional. My love of Indian cinema is in no small part thanks to him forcing me to watch Main Hoon Na. It’s not perfect; sometimes I find myself wincing through Justin Timberlake in The Love Guru. But whatever the case, I always wind up watching.

My introduction to Motern was an older gentleman sitting in an armchair, a book in hand. Dressed in shirt and tie, he closes the book and intones “Hello ladies and gentlemen, I come before you today with this message of dire importance”. The film we are about to see contains scenes of “shocking Riverbeast action” too frightening for the timid viewer. But don’t worry. As our guide warns us, in his honking New England accent, there’ll be a red flash on the screen when the terrifying beast appears. He even shows you what to do when it happens; put a hand over your face, fingers open just enough to gaze upon the aquatic menace. 

“Oh dear,” I thought, nestled in one corner of his sofa, trying to balance the laptop while his dog demanded attention, “he’s finally gone off the deep end.” Considering the florid narration, the consumer-grade digital camera and the synth-heavy score, I worried that my friend had finally bit the irony bug too hard. But little by little, I found my worries were misplaced. Here was a film that didn’t mock films by Ed Wood or Ray Dennis Stekler. It actively loved them.

Motern exists on a very specific wavelength. Actors speak their lines as if they’ve just read them, wearing costumes either from their own closet or from a fancy-dress store. They emote wildly, passionately, while rattling off dialogue that reads like someone swallowed a thesaurus; in no other film will you hear of a Gill-Man referred to as an “indecorous aquatic deviant”. All of this may not make the films look professional, but if you think a film is good when it desperately wants to look like Hollywood, then chances are you’re not Motern’s target audience. That joyful shonkiness gives Motern a certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi” that you can’t help but be swept up in.

Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!, the film I saw on that fateful couch, is full of that Je Ne Sais Quoi. The plot must be described to be believed- A celebrated tutor from Rivertown USA returns home for his god-cousin’s wedding, months after a much-mocked encounter with the mythical Riverbeast. Hired as a tutor for the daughter of a famous former athlete (that is how he describes himself), he finds himself trying to prove that the creature is real while juggling feelings for his ex-girlfriend. And if he can get his band, “The River Mud Warriors”, back together, that would be neat, too. Weaving in and out of these scenes is a big game hunter and ladies’ man called Ito Hootkins, a vagabond who enjoys “popping” (the dance move, to be clear) and a creepy professor with a broken leg.

It’s just as out-there as it sounds, but director Charles Roxburgh and actor/writer/musician Matt Farley make it all incredibly winning. When the climactic Riverbeast fight happens, you can’t help but cheer along, because you’ve gotten so invested in these characters and their unusual little lives. They’re so unusual that you can’t help thinking that they could be real, especially when you realise the actors behind them are real people. Not trained, mind, but even more authentic for it. 

Everyone who loves Motern has a favourite actor; mine is Kevin McGee, former model, bodybuilder and Matt Farley’s former supervisor at a group home for teenagers. Matt once joked that he cast McGee because he finally could have an adult in his films, instead of a bunch of twenty-year-olds in fake beards, and he brings gravitas to every role he plays. He’s a distinctly extraordinary sort of ordinary, sporting a thick New Hampshire accent and a terrifyingly large pair of biceps that are miles (or is that kilometres?) away from the airbrushed world of Hollywood stars. And that makes him even more likable. In Riverbeast, he’s the aforementioned former professional athlete, alternately berating Farley for his ne’er do well behaviour and punching an aquatic creature in the kidneys. He is exceptional at both and charismatic to boot. No wonder men have tattoos of his face on their arms.

Other Motern films take that homespun weirdness to cosier places. They’re not out and out genre homages like Riverbeast, but what they lack in monster suits they make up for in charm, especially Magic Spot and Local Legends. Local Legends is a sweet-natured hall of mirrors with Farley in front and behind the camera in a story about musician and filmmaking microcelebrity Matt Farley juggling his art and his job in a small New England town. Magic Spot is Motern’s most heartfelt film, the story of two cousins who learn to contact their dead uncle via a time-travelling rock in the woods and broadcast the results on public television. In both films, everyone loves good music, the local scenery and wanting to help their neighbours. There’s a trust between small-town citizens that feels refreshingly different to the relentless cynicism and backbiting you might see in mainstream media. It’s a welcome tonic in a time where people seem more disillusioned with their neighbours than ever, a cosy reminder of how good people can be. Watching them is like a hug from an old friend. 

So, sincere, heartfelt films made with authentic-feeling cast members and a lot of love for genre films, hanging out and good music (and believe me, the music is GOOD). Motern may be low-budget, but it is nowhere near low-effort. Farley and Roxburgh have gradually grown a following, in no small part thanks to Farley’s canny promotional skills, but the three screenings taking place this April on the 18^th and the 19^th are the first screenings of Motern films in the UK. All three screenings will be in the wonderful presence of Matt Farley himself; I interviewed him for the event, and it gives me great pleasure to inform you he is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met.

For details on these events, visit Moternmedia.com

Ethan’s Archive – Motern Media and Matt Farley