Filmmaker Statement

“Playing house” as a child was an aspirational game. There was a lot of imprinting, a lot of assuming the future. Notwithstanding whatever traumas, successes or formative experiences shape us, it’s presumed we’re all headed for some sort of “playing house” situation in adulthood. It’s universal. A vital theme we wanted to explore was that of Place. Like scent, walking into a certain setting can bring a flood of memories and sharpened feelings. After all, four walls often contain our best and worst times. Our main characters, Jess and Mark, feeling daring one night, wall themselves off from a party for some alone time in an upstairs bedroom. We loved the task of taking a simple bedroom and transforming it into a memory palace or a memory minefield depending on the moment. As the film continues, the bedroom becomes a pressure cooker, containing two volatile forces who fall into old toxic patterns and what started as a fun and daring game begins to shift.